A Freak of Both Worlds
by Yaa
Summary: Harry Potter Xover. Following a certain event, Rogue gets accepted into Hogwarts, and is now forced to deal with not only her mutation, and magical powers, but something else entirely...
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters and blah blah blah…**

Remus Lupin looked and felt sick, nothing unusual on day preceding the full moon. There were exceptions to this general rule but those were few and far between and exceedingly more scarce now that his Hogwarts years were long over. It didn't help much that the two best friends who were largely responsible for those rare occasions were coincidentally quite dead. And while this day proved to be an exception in its own right- it was by no means related to how he looked or felt. Oh no, tonight's exception had to do with a little bottle resting comfortably in the side pocket of his robes and the inquisitive hand searching hopefully for money. Lupin had rented a small motel room within which to transform, and it was on his way there, a scant thirty minutes from dusk, that a foreign hand entered that same pocket and stole the bottle from its resting place.

Well you can imagine what happened next, or at least I assume you can. But for those of us who have come down with a sudden case of laziness or are simply unable to remember what one generally does upon finding a kind soul willing to make your pockets a little lighter for your convenience, I suppose it is my duty as the writer to enlighten you. It's quite simple really- you give chase, and Remus Lupin did just that.

Lupin swore heavily as he glanced at the sky. He had finally stopped running after shadows and now stood in a back ally alone in the growing darkness… without his potion. Somewhere in the back of his mind a voice was crying out to apparate somewhere, anywhere that was far away from the smell of humans, but the wolf in him was already starting to get control. And as the moon's light broke the clouds, a thing of beauty that has been praised and even worshiped throughout the centuries, something of equal beauty, though many would beg to differ, was once again created.

That night the moon's child that was both man and beast roomed the dark back alleys enslaved to the smell of human flesh.

/

"Find anything yet?" Scott's voice said to loudly into her ear-piece. Rogue winced at the noise, she had enough trouble with voices in her head as it was. She, along with the rest of the X-Men, were spread out searching for yet another new mutant. For once she wasn't wearing the trademark spandex costume as the professor didn't want to draw attention to them in a foreign country, so Rogue was left wearing her usual array of dark cloths that covered her from the neck down. Long sleeved shirt, pants, combat boots, and as always the gloves, never forget the gloves.

"No and I don't expect to," was her tart reply. Rogue switched her communicator off knowing that Jean would contact her when the task was done. Rogue did not appreciate being awoken in the early hours of the morning and then being dragged off to England to help find the new mutant.

True to her words, she really did not expect to be the one to find the mutant. First of all, she was wandering the back allies, where no one in their right mind would want to be. The second reason was that judging from the Professors description of the mutant Rahne Sinclair's powers, she would be able to smell Rogue coming and would no doubt wish to avoid people. Rahne Sinclair was a recently developed mutant with the ability to change into a dog, or if she wanted, stop the transformation halfway through to resemble what many people assume a werewolf would look like. Ironic isn't it?

Rogue stopped as a sound caught her ears. It was a low growling, and given the task at hand, she headed toward the sound, a simple act of friendship that would change her life forever.

She rounded the corner and the growling grew more intense. There was always the hope that it was just a stray dog, but in literature things never seem to be 'just' anything do they?

Rogue's first reaction was to scream, her second; to run. If these thoughts had occurred in reverse order, she may yet have been saved. But in the slight millisecond it took for the latter to take affect it was all ready to late. The beast snarled once more and then attacked.

Rogue was knocked to the ground as she turned to run, claws digging into back forcing yet another scream to rip through her body. She tried to roll away, escape, anything, but teeth closed down on her shoulder, tearing through her skin more effectively then a knife.

This was one of the few times that Rogue would ever be thankful she was a mutant, for as the werewolf tore open her skin her powers kicked in and began draining the life out of her adversary. Even as the creature was reduced into an unconscious state and rolled away from her Rogue felt the blackness closing in. In one last desperate attempt she reached for her communicator, but it slipped easily from her blood soaked glove just as the darkness claimed her.

In the darkness there were memories, but these contained only fleeting images seen through a veil of red gauze and a blinding hunger to kill.

/

Lupin didn't need the feeling of dread that spread over him when he opened his eyes in the thin morning light to tell him something was wrong. No the sight of a blood soaked ground was more than enough to tell him that. The dread was replaced with a pang of urgency as he saw the motionless figure lying a few feet away from him, a figure who bore his teeth marks and now his curse.

'If she's still alive,' the thought came to him. He should be up moving, but he seemed frozen, almost drained as if during the night something had come and sucked some of his life away. The girl, for he now saw that it was indeed a girl, moaned slightly making him forget his weariness.

"Oh God," he whispered, "Please stay alive, please," he felt tears threatening to come but now was not the time to lose control over his emotions. Right now he had to get her to Dumbledore if there was any chance at all for her survival. Picking up the girl in his arms he held her as tight as he dared and apparated with a loud crack, right to the door of the Black Manor.

"LET ME IN!" he screamed kicking the door in his hurry to get in. He barely noticed who opened the door, let alone their shocked look. "Where's Dumbledore?" He demanded, Ron just pointed silently to the main meeting room. He ran past without a word of thanks and burst through the door finally coming to a stop as he painted and clutched the girl to his chest.

Dumbledore took charge instantly, clearing the table with a sweep of his wand and beckoning Lupin to place her down.

"What happened?" He asked in that cool collected tone of his.

Lupin wanted to scream, but he only managed an out of breath rasp, "Tell you later, help her!"

Dumbledore turned to Tonks and Mrs. Weasly, but before he could say anything Mrs. Weasly was already pushing him and all the other males in the room out the door. "Remember to where gloves, in her weakened state, her body is more prone to infection," He managed to say before the door was closed behind him.

"Now Lupin," He said leading him to a chair, Harry, Ron, Hermione had now entered the room and were looking on with interest, "Tell us what happened."

/

"I can't find her, that means she's either unconscious, or…" Jeans voice trailed off. They had found Rahne a few hours ago and everyone had met back at the plane except Rogue. Jean had tried to locate her with her mind but it hadn't worked.

"Um, I might be able to help." A timid voice said behind her, "If you give me something with her smell on it I should be able to trace her down." No sooner had Rahne spoken than Kitty thrust a CD player into her hands, "This is hers, I was just borrowing it." Wolfsbane led the X-Men into the back streets of the town, following the scent that had been given to her. It didn't take her long to find where the trail ended, but when it did it was a sight that all of them would remember.

The ground was covered with fresh blood, just starting to dry into a brownish paste, and lying in the center was a communicator, the only thing left of Rogue besides her life's red flow.

/

_That thing in the alley, running, pain, biting…_

_A man carrying her through a doorway…_

_Something hard under her, pain ebbing away…_

These were all the things that flashed through Rogue's mind as she stirred into wakefulness. Fleeting memories of what had happened to her over the last few hours.

Rogue opened her eyes to see a pair of half-moon spectacles hovering over her, attached to the spectacles was an elderly man with long silver hair and beard that cascaded down a good few feet to end near his waist.

"Ah, good to see you're awake, my names Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. How are you feeling this afternoon?" he spoke to her in a voice not unlike that of the professors.

"I'm fine," Rogue said, then noticing how he was looking at her expectantly she added, "Rogue, my names Rogue."

She struggled to sit up and look around. Rogue was lying on a bed in a small room surrounded by people. Besides Dumbledore there was a middle-aged woman with flaming red hair, though it wasn't without a rare gray strand here and there. Next to her stood three teens of about Rogue's age, a girl with bushy brown hair, a boy with messy black hair and green eyes almost as vivid as her own, and the lastly another boy who was slightly taller that the others. She could only assume he was the woman's son as his hair was also shone with the same dancing fire, though without the gray. The last occupant of the room was the man she recognized as the one who had brought her here, and also the werewolf who had bitten her.

Lupin looked down unable to meet her eyes, " I suppose you want to know what happened?" he asked fearing the explanation he would have to give.

He was startled by her reply, "I know what happened, but what I don't know is who the rest of you are and where am I? Oh and what on earth is Hogwarts?"

Dumbledore sighed before starting to explain, first giving names and then telling her she was currently resting in the Black Manor. As he began to explain about the Magical world, about the Order, and about Voldemort, Rogue remained silent. She would have thought this was all a very organized hoax like for one of those TV shows, but for the fact that Lupin's memories were telling her different.

"And last, well you already said you know what happened, but as to what happens now, that will be up to you. As a werewolf bit you, you have now become one yourself. But furthermore, you are now a creature of magical being and therefore have magic flowing through you. You are free to go back to your home, or you can stay here and learn to control your new gift by attending Hogwarts." Dumbledore finished. The room remained quite as they waited for her reply.

_'To be a freak of both worlds, both magical and 'muggle', someone up there must really hate you.' Sneered Magneto._

_'Didn't know you believed in God, Bucket-head, thought you found yourself greater,' she replied in the same hateful tone, 'Funny that even a god ended up trapped in here unable to do anything about it.'_

_'You don't belong here child, come home to the X-Men.' Storm's voice this time._

_Other voices joined the first ones arguing among themselves, Kitty and Kurt, stayed oddly quite for once, whispering together in the back of her mind._

_'Everybody just shut up, Kitty, Kurt what do you think?'_

_'Well, the other me will miss you a lot, but I don't think you should like totally pass this up. You can't stop being a werewolf now but you can live where no one like, knows you're a mutant. Just make sure to write us and come visit, my real self would hate to lose you.'_

_'Ya, and being a vitch sounds so cool! You get to do magic and live in a castle, and have a vand, and …' Kurt's voice trailed off as he continued muttering to himself._

_'And have yet another power to lose control of,' Rogue ignored this last voice, Mystique was not high on her consultant list._

_'But how can I leave you guys all behind? I mean I know you, Kitty, Kurt, will be the only one's to miss me but still-'_

_She was cut off as the voices of the other X-Men argued telling her how much their real selves would miss her. Rogue just rolled her eyes and waited for them to quite down._

_'It really doesn't matter in the end I guess, I would be to much of a danger to everyone if I went back now.'_

_Her last statement brought on silence, then Kurt's voice spoke hesitantly in her head, 'You are planning to let our doubles know what happened aren't you?'_

_'…No.'_

That's when Rogue noticed what she was wearing, a short sleeved hospital gown, and no gloves.

"Um, I'll stay but, one thing first, where are my clothes?"

/

Of all the things Lupin had expected her to say, 'where are my clothes?' was not one of them. He had expected her to ask to talk to her family, or demand that he leave the room. The common reaction upon being told that you had been turned into a werewolf was to rant and scream in denial. But this girl, Rogue she had said her name was, an odd name for a muggle he mused, she had accepted it with hardly any show of emotion whatsoever.

"Tonks is fixing them now, dear," Mrs. Weasly's voice broke him out of his reverie.

"Ahem," Dumbledore said gathering all eyes to him once again, "There is one more matter at hand, you see, I would like to personally inform your family of your choice. You are free to come with me if you feel up to it, but if you give me your address I'll just set up a temporary floo connection." He hurriedly explained what a 'floo' was.

Lupin was surprised to see a flash of pain cross those emerald green eyes of hers, but it was gone at second glance. Her voice was steady when she spoke, though see seemed to be almost split between two conversations, her mind keeping track of an inner turmoil.

"I don't want them to know about this. I'm already to great a danger to them, it's better to let them think me dead." The other faces in the room mirrored his own stunned expression. He supposed it was lucky that Tonk's stumbled in at that point, carrying a pile of Rogue's clothes.

"Couldn't get that folding spell to work Molly," She said cheerfully as she placed the misshapen pile on the foot of Rogue's bed. Looking up Tonks caught Rogue's eyes and she froze momentarily. "Your eyes…" she whispered, automatically changing her own eyes to mirror the emerald green of Rogue's own, "I though I was the only one who could get them that green…".

Rogue, for her part, was transfixed by the young woman standing in front of her. Tonks was beautiful, there was no denying that, but there seemed to be an almost fake element to her. Just as her eyes changed colors, the memories in her mind informed her that physical appearance was a temporary thing for Tonks, no one knew what she really looked like.

'_She's fake… just like me' _Rogue realized, while she had a fake mind, Tonks had a fake body. _'It's like we compete each other'_ she realized, before mentally laughing at the awkwardness of that last thought.

Molly cleared her throat, pulling both women out of their inner thoughts and bringing them back to reality. Tonks eyes shifted back to a more normal color, a soft hazel, and she quickly left the room, looking back one last time to see Rogue's green eyes still following her.

Lupin had also watched Tonks leave, confused by her odd behavior. He looked back at Rogue just in time to see her slipping her gloves on before her hands disappeared once again beneath the sheets of her bed. Rogue's personality and behavior baffled him, and with growing up in the magical world, that was saying something. He remembered how he had felt when he had awoken that morning to find her lying a few feet away in a messy pool of her own blood. The strange weak feeling was gone now but he was still left to wonder if it was at all connected to his odd collapse when he had attacked her the night before.

As he got up to follow the others out, Rogue's eyes met his. It was only for a second, but as he met her green eyes, her inhumanely green eyes, he once again saw that flash of pain before they congealed into their original emotionless mask. He recognized that look, he himself had worn it for many years, afraid to let anyone see who he really was, afraid to let anyone close, afraid because they might get hurt, and he would be the one hurting them.

/

"Ah good morning dear, I've brought you some breakfast," Mrs. Weasly said kindly the next morning as she placed a tray in front of Rogue. Rogue was once again wearing her own clothes, which had been cleaned and fixed by magic. Looking at the contents of the tray Rogue raised an inquisitive eyebrow. Not only was there enough food for several people but their was also some leafs of parchment and a quill. "I thought Harry, Ron, and Hermione would like to join you, you will be going into the 6th year with them at Hogwarts after all-"

_'She expects me to want friends, but I can't, I won't. No one can be allowed in, no one!' Even as Rogue thought this however, the image of Tonks rose up in her mind unbidden. 'NO!' Rogue thought, pushing the picture away before the other people in her head became aware of it. _

_'You let us in Rogue, me and Kitty. You let us see you without your mask and we never got hurt,' Kurt argued._

_'That was a mistake, you could have been hurt number's of times, but I'm fixing that now. You'll all think I'm dead, and you'll be safe. I'm an even greater danger to people now, but I have to stay. If I don't I'll never be able to control this magic. If I let anyone in everything will be ruined.'_

_'There were times when we could have gotten hurt, but the thing is, we never did,' Kitty said._

"But won't I have to start at the bottom?" Rogue coming back to the real world, trying to purge Kitty's words from her mind.

"No of course not dear, you'll have Hermione to help you," She said this as if there was no going wrong with this Hermione girl, Rogue just shrugged and asked about the parchment.

"Well I thought you might change your mind about telling your family and…" Mrs. Weasly's voice trailed of as a hint of pain appeared in Rogue's eyes.

"As I already said, it's better not to, I don't want them in to be put in anymore danger," Rogue said, her voice suddenly cold.

_'They wouldn't take you back if they knew,' Mystique's harsh voice broke the surface of her mind._

_Logan snarled and pulled Mystique back into the dark corners of her mind before the woman had a chance to do any damage._

"Great, food!" Exclaimed Ron, breaking what had been an uncomfortable silence as he entered the room.

"Oh really Ron," Hermione said, following him in and sounding exasperated, though a slight smile played across her lips.

Harry just grinned and sat down on a chair that had not been there a second ago. "Thanks Mrs. Weasly," He said taking a bite of sausage.

She nodded and exited the room hurriedly, taking the parchment with her. Rogue's eyes lingered for a second longer on the parchment before the door closed obscuring it from view.

Rogue watched the three of them eat, every now and then reaching out and grabbing a sausage or a piece of bacon for herself. She waited for them to ask, everyone always did. But these people didn't, they didn't even glance at her gloves or long sleeves.

_'No, they probably think it's the new muggle fashion, ignore them, don't let them in!'_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

One week later Rogue had been thus far able to keep her wall firmly in place. She had never had trouble before, people knew why she kept them away and didn't bother her. Except Kitty and Kurt. They just kept coming, Kurt because of his connection to her as a younger brother, and Kitty, well Rogue had had trouble figuring that out on her own. When she asked Kitty about it, Kitty just replied that as a roommate she had been able to see Rogue a few times without her usual mask, so she and Kurt had banded together to knock it down. These people here were hardly different, Harry and his friends just kept tempting fate by being nice to her. They didn't understand why she distanced herself and they tried repeatedly to grind her down. It wasn't like she, Kitty, and Kurt were best friends who always hung around each other, Kitty and Kurt understood that she needed her own space and they didn't push her too much. Besides they had their own lives to attend to. Kurt going on frequent dates with his girlfriend Amanda, and Kitty hanging out with a large group of her own friends. Rogue found herself wishing for the next week to hurry up and pass so she could get to Hogwarts and get away from the 'golden trio' there.

Even as she battle against the extended friendship of the trio however, part of her couldn't help but wish that someone else was there offering her friendship. Even though she had only had that brief encounter with Tonks, the woman had fascinated her. Her ability to change appearance as easily as Rogue changer personalities made her think that maybe this person, this one person might come close to understanding.

But first she needed to get supplies, and that's how Rogue came to leave her room at last and was now standing in front of the fire place glaring into its depths. Ron had joked that this was her first show of emotion since arriving, where upon she turned her gaze on him, shutting him up completely.

Rogue did not like fire, it wasn't that she was afraid of it per-say, but rather that it annoyed the hell out of her. You wonder why? Well to put it quite simply, Rogue hated things that thrived in the heat. She was forced to wear long sleeves and pants on even the hottest days, suffering from near heat strokes, while fire danced merrily at the heart of its essence. So here she was, glaring at the fire which Mrs. Weasly had already disappeared into.

Ron disappeared next, then Harry, and then Hermione. Never wavering in her hateful scowl, Rogue grabbed a handful of the powder handed to her by Mr. Weasly and threw it into the flames. She didn't take the time to watch as it changed colors, she wasn't about to give it the satisfaction of drawing even an ounce of awe from her. Stepping into the flames she called out "Weasly's Wizard Wheezes" and was gone… into yet another nightmare.

"I hate crowds," she muttered before forcing her was quickly toward the exit.

Harry was the only one close enough to hear her muttered words before she plunged into the crowd. Well perhaps 'plunged' wasn't exactly the right word for it, more like… whatever word means shoved, kicked, and elbowed her way through, pushing away anyone who got to close to her. She stood just outside the entrance waiting for the others to finish looking around.

He didn't understand her, he and the others had been acting perfectly nice toward her, but still she refused to lower her self-built wall even for an instant.

Fifteen minutes later, Harry, laden with free gifts from the twins stumbled out followed by Ron and Hermione. Mr. and Mrs. Weasly were still in the shop saying goodbye to Fred and George.

"Right, where to first?" Mr. Weasly asked as she exited the shop.

"Um, I don't have any money," Rogue said.

"Lupin offered to pay for you, don't worry about it. Now what about robes?" Mrs. Weasly said leading the way.

/

Several hours later Rogue found herself standing outside a petshop, a rather odd one with screeching and howling noises issuing from inside.

"What sort of pet do you want?" Harry asked her, "You can have an owl or a cat or a toad, though I don't recommend the toad."

Thinking of Todd from her old school Rogue had to agree.

_'Oh, get a kitty Rogue'_

_'No, a full grown cat is much better'_

_'No way yo, toads are in the house,' (this comment was followed by a familiar slurping sound.)_

_'Ah come on, owls carry your mail for you.'_

_'And who would send her mail? Who would want to talk to the freak of both worlds?' Magneto said using his new name for her._

_'Shut up all of you,' Rogue growled in her head. 'I'm not getting anything, I'd probably just kill it by mistake anyway.'_

Ignoring the continued clamor of voices Rogue brought her mind back to the real world. Everyone was looking at her with concern evident in their eyes.

"Are you ok Rogue?" Hermione asked.

"I'm fine, but I don't want a pet." She responded a little harshly, the voices in her head were giving her a headache.

Thankfully someone chose that moment to interrupt the group by bumping rather disjointedly into Ron's back. "Sorry, sorry," Tonks's voice spoke from a young woman who looked rather different from the previous face Rogue had seen.

"You're late" Mrs. Weasly observed riley, "we're actually almost done, but why don't you take Rogue to get her wand while we pick up the last few things from the bookstore?"

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Tonks was there to act as added protection, Rogue felt her stomach flop strangely at the thought of spending more time in the other woman's presence. Part of her was overjoyed to be able to spend more time with someone similar to herself, but another part realized that Tonks friendship would be harder to resist, and that part wished more than anything that Tonks would leave her alone.

Tonks, for her part, grinned at Rogue and once again matched her eyes to those of the younger woman. , "I like this color" she said aloud, "It's very mystical, kind of supernatural, don't you think?"

Rogue looked down to hide the faint blush that crept across her pale features, "sure" she said in response, "whatever". If Tonks was hurt by the callous way Rogue answered her, her current face didn't show it. Instead she just grinned and pointed to a dusty looking shop across the road. The shop had a single wand lying on a faded cushion in the window, and the word 'Olivander's' painted in flaking gold paint on the window.

Inside her head Kurt gave an extremely girlish squeal and began jumping around happily. Rubbing her temples and wishing desperately for an aspirin, Rogue entered the shop followed by Tonks. It was even more decrepit and run down on inside as it had been on the outside. Piles of wand boxes lay scattered around the floor, and those that were still on shelves were haphazardly stacked without any real order.

Rogue heard a slight noise behind her and turned, her body tensing, just as a wizened old man was about to tap her on the shoulder.

"Well, you're the first one in a long time to sense my approach, hmm very intrusting, yes most intriguing," as he spoke the others turned and noticed him with a start.

Rogue made herself relax, it wouldn't do to let the auror see her skills, someone might start asking unwanted questions.

"Hold out your wand hand," she obliged by holding out her right hand, assuming of course that wand hand meant her dominant hand. Rogue found herself hard-pressed not to stiffen again when a tape measure began floating around her all by itself. In her experience, when metal things start flying around a fight was soon to follow. The tape measure stopped abruptly and the old man thrust a wand into her hand.

"Go on now, just give it a wave and-" he was cut off abruptly as his robe caught fire.

Next followed a wand that made everyone's hair stand on end, and one that fizzed angrily. The old man and Tonks were forced to endure several more hazards until Rogue found the right one, or rather it found her.

She pointed her latest wand at the window, but instead of a crack of glass, or sudden, harsh precipitation, the wand shot out of her hand and landed next to the one in the window.

"Ohh… I had forgotten about that one," Mr. Olivander said handing her the wand that until now had been the shops only showpiece.

As she touched the wand a strange feeling swept through her. The voices in her head that had been whispering amongst themselves, or making snide comments about her, or even cheering her on as she went from wand to wand became instantly more distinct. They were not blended together like they usually were, but rather sounded like they did when they were trying to talk to her, each one clearly separated from the other.

The wand let off an array of differently colored stars, and Mr. Olivander took the wand from her hand and began wrapping it up. The moment the wand left her hand the voices once again returned to their usual buzz of noise. The relief that swept through her as the voices diminished was replaced by a cold dread as she prayed the effect on her mind was only a side effect of the first trial.

"I never thought that anyone would ever claim this wand," Mr. Olivander was saying, "I just made it for fun really. Main core of vampire blood, secondary core of werewolf hair, and then a bit of everything else, I had a time trying to fit it all in I can tell you." He said with a slight chuckle.

"Why didn't you think anyone would buy it sir?" Tonks asked, clearly confused.

"This wand was never made for one person alone, with so many components I thought it would take several wizards or witches using it at once to get it to work. How one person managed to master it is beyond my comprehension. In fact…" the wizard looked at Tonks again, his eyes shifting to the pocket where her own wand was hidden. "You're wand is very similar, it also has a core of vampire blood and then a large mix of ingredients. Not as many as this wand, of course, but also a strange wand for a single person to choose. For you it makes sense, however, you shift appearances and the changing element draws you to the different items in the wand." They were all very aware of what he wasn't saying with this statement, that Rogue must also have some unusual qualities similar to Tonks.

Tonks moved her hand over her wand in response to Mr. Olivander's gaze, feeling its pull through the fabric. At the same time she couldn't help but look at Rogue, wondering if there was something behind that unspoken statement. Though Rogue seemed to show no interest in her, Tonks had felt a strange connection to the girl, something about her seemed to call out to Tonks and make her want to protect her, though from her observations it hardly seemed as if she needed the protection.

Rogue thrust the money into Mr. Olivander's hands and exited the shop quickly, Tonks followed her out commenting, "Strange about the werewolf hair being the secondary core instead of the main one, don't you think?" she asked.

Rogue ignored her and stuffed the wand into her bag. Oh she knew all right, the werewolf was only who she was once a month, while she was a vampire of souls all the time. Rogue felt no happiness at finding this wand, if anything she dreaded using it. She had mastered it as a result of all the different people in her head, but at the cost of their empowerment. This wand was not meant for her alone, but it was through her that the people were brought together.

Shrugging off Rogue's indifference, though inwardly Tonks couldn't help but feel slightly hurt that Rogue seemed unwilling to talk about her wand, or what Mr. Olivander had said, she pointed to a different street and they left to meet up with the other members of their party.

/

Rogue was acting strangely all the way back, or at least she was acting stranger than usual. Harry couldn't help but notice how she seemed even more distant than she had previously. It had happened after she had gotten that wand. Harry remembered that when he had found his wand he hadn't wanted to let it go, but she seemed if anything all to happy to leave it at the bottom of her shopping bag.

"Hey Harry? You there mate?" Ron asked waving a hand in front of his face. Harry blinked and took stock of his surroundings. The three of them were in Harry and Ron's room and they were not alone.

"Hey Lupin," Harry said sitting on his bed next to Hermione.

Lupin nodded then asked about the trip, specifically how Rogue had been.

What's up with the questions?" Ron asked as Harry finished relaying the events at the wand shop.

"Nothing, just wondering how's she's adjusting," Lupin replied, before hurrying out of the room clearly lost in thought.

"He knows something," Harry said suddenly, causing the other's to look at him.

"Come off it, the only thing we know about her is her name," Ron scoffed.

"And not even that," Hermione added, "We only know that she goes by Rogue, but that's hardly a normal name, is it? And even if it is her real name what's her last name?"

"Lupin knows something," Harry said more firmly, "Something happened that night he attacked her, something that wouldn't normally happen."

"Oh, give it a rest Harry, he's just concerned about her, that's all," Ron said.

"Yeah, odd things always happen in our world, not everything is connected to You-Know-Who." Hermione said with a knowing smirk.

Harry sighed, and ran his hands through his unruly hair. They were probably right, this was the magical world after all, and strange things were bound to happen. He was just becoming paranoid and jumping to conclusions.

/

"Rogue?" The voice broke her away from her mental debate with old Bucket Head (Magneto), well it wasn't a debate per-say, more him telling her that Voldemort had the real power and her trying to ignore him.

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore?" Rogue looked up into the old man's eyes. He walked fully into her room caring an old beat up hat.

"I would like to get you sorted before the start of the school year tomorrow, that is of course, unless you would prefer to be sorted with the first years in front of the entire school?" His last statement was met by a grimace.

"I thought not, the process is simple really, just put on the hat," he said raising the hat in his arms for emphasis, "and it will decide your house. Don't be alarmed to hear a voice in your mind."

"I never am," Rogue muttered darkly to herself before eyeing the hat wearily and saying a bit louder, "Professor, I really don't want anything poking through my mind, couldn't I just… role a dice or something?"

Dumbledore chuckled lightly, "I'm afraid not my dear. But don't worry, what the hat sees is completely confidential." Before Rogue could utter another protest he put the hat on her head.

She had been around telepaths enough to recognize the telltale tickle in her mind, the sensation that meant something had made it past her shields and was going through her thoughts.

The hat hadn't known what it was getting into, as it searched through her mind at will, pulling apart the carefully constructed bonds that held the personalities of others in place. Destroying the only thing keeping them from doing more that speaking to her. Rogue wrenched the hat off her head, her breathing harsh and coming in desperate gasps, the hat tumbled from her hands onto the floor at her feet.

"Rogue! Are you ok?" Dumbledore asked, his voice sounding worried. He reached out a hand to feel her forehead, but as usual, her instincts kicked in and her gloved hand jerked up to catch his before he made contact with her skin.

"I'm fine, really." She said pushing him away.

"But what about your house placement?" He asked, seeming to understand that she didn't want to talk.

"Gryfindor," Rogue looked down. A seam had opened at the top of the hat and it said one more time, "She belongs in Gryfindor."

Rogue watched Dumbledore stoop to pick up the hat and then leave the room with one more worried glance. The moment he had closed the door Rogue focused on her mind, retying the knots that had come loose. Thankfully she had gotten the hat off before too much damage was done… or at least that's what she thought.

It wasn't until too late that she noticed one of the personalities had managed to escape its bonds, well, not just one personality, The Personality. The one she feared will all her being, the one not even the Professor knew about.

"Shit."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Rogue could feel the woman's icy hands as they wrapped around her subconscious, dragging her in. She felt herself being pulled further and further away from her physical body, until at last her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and her body hit the floor. She tried to fight it, but the woman had been part of her mind far too long, she had become much, much stronger than any other personality inside Rogue's head, fueled on by hate, anger, and a desire to destroy her captor.

_Now Rogue could see her clearly, the woman's who life she had destroyed, the only person she had even killed._

_The woman was actually more of a teenager than a woman, an almost identical copy of Rogue except for a few minor details. Her hair was all one color, absent of the two white stripes that decorated Rogue's head, and her eyes were a normal brown color, not filled with the emerald brilliance of Rogue's own._

_Rogue didn't know her name, just her title, and that was more than enough._

_"Mom," she breathed. This wasn't the woman who had adopted her, Mystique, no this was her real mother, her birth mother._

_Her mother laughed harshly as Rogue addressed her, "Me, your mother? Oh please, I never wanted to have you, I wanted to get an abortion, but my family wouldn't let me," as she spoke, she advanced towards Rogue. Rogue tried to back away but found herself trapped by a wall._

_'This is my mind, I just need to will the wall away,' Rogue thought as she pushed against it with her mental strength._

_The woman, Rogue's mother, laughed again, "Your mind? Give me a break, I was the one who made you, I was the one who created this mind, so I'll be the one to control it." As she spoke, thick, black tendrils reached up out of the floor, wrapping around Rogue, holding her in place. "I want to make you suffer for what you did to me, I Will make you suffer."_

_She walked up to Rogue, cupping Rogue's face in her hands, forcing her to look into her eyes, "Now lets begin, shall we?"_

_Looking into the eyes of her mother, Rogue realized what was about to happen, "No, no please. I didn't mean to, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to."_

_Her cries were met by the cold laugh of her mother, "Of course you didn't mean too, but I don't really care," She leaned down and pressed her lips to Rogue's forehead, "Sweat Dreams," she whispered as Rogues body began to disappear, retreating further into her subconscious, "Time for you to know my pain."_

_Someone was telling her to push, another person was holding her hand. Emotions coursed through her, fear was a big one, but excitement and love accompanied it. She would be a mother soon, sure she was only a teenager, a teenager who had made a mistake, but her family was supporting her, and now she would have a lasting memory of her boyfriend who had died in a car accident seven months ago. The Doctor told her to push again, and she did, happy at knowing that her child, her baby girl was almost here._

_That's when she felt it, a strange, almost sucking feeling, as if something had grabbed hold of her and was slowly suffocating her. As the feeling got worse, any ability she had to describe it was lost, she tried to scream but found her lips to cold to move and she was hardly aware of the sudden flurry and panicked voices that surrounded her. What made it worse was that she knew she was going to die, and that nothing anyone could do would save her. She could feel the icy hand of death bearing down upon her, and in the last second before her eyes closed forever, one thought entered her mind, 'I've created a monster.'_

_Rogue screamed as her mind was wretched out of the memory of her birth. This was the first time, the very first time she had ever been on the receiving end of her power. 'That's what I do to people, that's what they feel. Oh god, __**I**__ do that to people, __**I **__make people go through that, __**I **__make them feel that pain!' For reasons unknown, her powers had manifested at birth, and then receded again. Rogue had assumed that that it had something to do with overloading her circuits, as it were. As a baby she could only handle so much, so when the entirety of her mother's soul was absorbed into her, her body couldn't handle any more. As a result, her power was once again forced into dormancy where it stayed until 16 years later when Cody just had to ask her for a dance._

In the real world, her physical body began to scream as well, twitching madly on the floor. A new strength surged into her, something dark and primal, something that was now a part of her.

Still screaming, she used her new strength to break down the walls holding her captive, closing them again once she was free. She was in a frenzy, a blinded state of pain and she didn't even hear her mothers harsh screams of disbelief and furry at being once again locked away.

And then the feeling overtook her, the darkness consumed her and she fell.

/

He heard the scream, they all did, but he heard it first. Lupin was on his way to ask Rogue to come down to dinner when it had happened. He had felt it in his mind before it had reached his ears, that, cold, deadly call he knew all to well. It was the cry of the wolf, the anguished scream of the transformation.

Rushing into her room, he found her lying on the floor, her body writhing uncontrollably. She had already started to change, claws and fur growing on her body. Raising his wand he yelled "Illarum!" (Latin for wall), causing silver bindings to shoot out of the end of his wand and form a cage around the now fully transformed wolf.

The wolf snarled at him with fully exposed canines then threw itself against the cage, falling back with a yelp as a current of electricity shocked its hide. "Sorry about that, kid," he whispered to Rogue. She was on her feet again but was, for now, staying in the center of the cage.

"Lupin! What's going on?" Molly said in a worried tone, "Is Rogue…" her voice trailed off as her eyes landed on the cage. "But it's not the full moon, how is this possible?"

"Move aside, Molly," Moody's voice was gruff as he pushed past her, followed by Tonks and Arthur. Outside in the hall Harry, Hermione, Ron, and his siblings strained to see what was going on.

"Should we call Dumbledore?" Molly asked in a small voice, wincing slightly as Rogue once again threw herself against the cage, only to be repelled in the same manner as before.

"No, he's out right now talking to the ministry, we can fill him in when he gets back. She's already fully transformed, the only thing we can do know is wait for the transformation to reverse," Lupin told her. "I'll stay here and watch over her."

Moody turned to the group of kids, "You're all going to Hogwarts a little early this year," he told them with a lopsided grin, "We need to know if anyone has ever changed when it wasn't the full moon before."

"I'll stay too," Tonks hadn't realized she was about to say that, the words had just seemed to spill out of her mouth. Her desire to protect Rogue had surged to the surface when she heard the scream, and staring at the wolf Rogue only made her desire to help the girl increase.

"No," Moody told her, "You get to lead the research team, you'll be more help there than sitting here watching her hurt herself on that cage."

Tonks knew he was right, she had only graduated from Hogwarts a short time ago, so of the adults, she was probably the most familiar with the library as it was now. _'I'll still be helping her'_ she tried to tell herself, but as she turned to leave the room she made the mistake of once again looking back into the eyes of Rogue. It was probably her imagination, but she thought that as their eyes met, there was a brief flash of humanity in those eyes, but then she blinked and that was gone. As she left she winced as she heard the wolf yelp, having once again thrown herself against the cage.

/

Harry looked up from a thick and utterly useless volume in-titled Mystical Miracles as Tonks groaned loudly and plopped her face down into her latest book.

"I give up!" she exclaimed exasperatedly, her voice slightly muffled by the book, "No werewolf has ever changed out of the cycle before, I'll bet Moody just wanted to get rid of us."

Harry was inclined to agree, the thought had already passed his mind several times. If there had ever been a documented case of a werewolf changing at a time other than the full moon, Hermione would have known about it. She had, after all, done a report of werewolves in her third year, and he was sure she would have found something.

"Ah, come off it Tonks," George said, walking over and pulling Tonks's face out of the book.

"Yeah, who cares if our weekly visit to headquarters landed us back here, doing work of all things," Fred said, coming up to stand on the other side of her.

"Now don't get us wrong, we're not bitter or anything," George, again.

"Nope, not one bit bitter," Fred confirmed.

"Just kinda makes us feel like letting loose, time for some fun you know?" George continued, he and Fred pushed the back of Tonks's chair till it was leaning back on two legs, dangerously close to falling over. She was looking back and forth between the twins somewhat nervously.

'Uh-oh,' Harry thought, George and Fred had been whispering together for the last several minutes or so, both wearing identical evil grins. Harry had an idea that he was about to see whatever they had been planning, he also had an idea that the aftermath wasn't going to be pretty.

"Hey, let me down!" Tonks yelled as her chair wobbled slightly.

"Not before a kiss," Fred said wickedly.

"Wha-" Tonks managed to get out before George kissed her fully on the lips. When he pulled away Tonks had gone completely catatonic and was sitting unmoving in her chair. He and Fred put her chair safely back with all four legs on the ground and walked away looking as if nothing had happened.

"She's gonna explode," Ron whispered in his ear, trying hard not to laugh. And sure enough, Tonk's face, and hair for that matter, were going completely red. After the red had reached a peak of color, she did explode, or rather, the table in front of her did.

Harry dived for cover under his own table, Ron and Hermione following suit. Tonks had turned towards Fred and George, and Harry now saw that her eyes were red as well, and had taken out her wand.

"YOU TWO!" She all but yelled.

"What us?" –Fred.

"Couldn't be"- George.

Both twins were looking perfectly innocent, but that didn't stop Tonks from trying to blast the hell out of them.

Several minutes later Tonks, her face, hair, and eyes now somewhat calmer looking returned to her seat and resumed reading. Behind her in a scorched pile Fred and George lay in a crumpled heap.

"Blimy, she really is an Auror," Ron said, sounding impressed.

"They got exactly what they deserved," Hermione said, trying to sound disdainful but she was having a hard time keeping the amusement from her voice. Ginny, on the other hand, had no such qualms and was laughing uncontrollably.

"Yeah, great show," Harry said, managing to pull off a grin, but his heart wasn't in it. His mind had been completely occupied with worries about Rogue, and while Fred and George's act had been amusing, it put them nowhere closer to helping her. Rogue was a mystery to him, as she was to everyone else, but he found that the mystery intrigued him, he never had been good at keeping his noise out of other peoples business.

"I wonder what Rogue would look like if she smiled," Harry voiced aloud, more to himself than to anyone else, he tried to imagine it and failed.

The conversation at the table stopped and everyone turned to look at him, even Fred and George managed to twist their heads enough to stare.

"Harry, what the hell? She's like a freaking death zombie!" Ron exclaimed.

Harry could feel his face start to burn, but was saved having to answer by Tonks, who changed her face to look like Rogue's and smiled largely at him.

"Wow," George whispered, Fred managed a weak whistle.

"Yeah, wow," Harry breathed. The face in front of him was beautiful, no, more then beautiful, it was, well… he couldn't think of a word to describe it, it just was. He felt a sharp pang in his chest as her face faded back into that of Tonks, shaking his head, Harry closed his eyes. The face was still there, shining just as beautifully as before.

"Harry," Ron said turning towards him gravely, "I take back what I was said before, no way someone that beautiful can be a zombie" Ron was the only one to miss the jealous look Hermione shot him, until his next statement erased it from her face, "I give you my full permission to date her."

"It was just a question," Harry said quickly, "I didn't mean anything by it, honest!" But he couldn't stop his heart from skipping a beat as he pictured her smiling face again, but in his mind, she was smiling only for him.

Seeing the expression of Harry's face, Tonks felt something inside of her stir as well. She found herself able to forget about the twin's 'joke', her mind completely lost in wishing she had a mirror and could see whatever it was that was making Harry look like that. She couldn't quite identify the emotion that had arisen in her as a response, it was probably that damn protective streak again, but she tried to push it aside. It wouldn't do to get annoyed over the boy's hormones, he deserved to find someone, but somewhere inside her that emotion just refused to completely disappear.

/

Lupin hoped she would change back soon, it had been almost eight hours and she was still in her wolf form. The others had all gone to bed, having come back empty handed from the school library several hours ago, and Lupin was the only one still up. He had refused to let anyone else stand guard over her, feeling it was his duty as her 'wolf father' to look over her. He had had to give her a sleeping spell a little while ago in order to quite her down, it was the only way to keep her from continually smashing her body into the cage, but by now the charm was starting to wear off.

She raised her head slowly off the floor to look at him, and Lupin was relieved to see a few hints of her humanity in her eyes, that meant the call of the wolf was disappearing and she would return to her human form soon. _'Good,'_ he thought _'She won't be trying anything more tonight.'_

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, feeling calmer now that he knew she was past the worst of it. Before he realized what was happening he had drifted off to sleep, his head resting comfortably against the back of the chair.

Rogue felt the transformation coming on again and gritted her teeth against the pain, all the same she was not able to keep a small whimper from passing her lips. She reached her arm through the bars of the cage, careful not to touch the sides, her sore body reminding her harshly of the electric shock she had endured time and time again while in her other form. Lifting a pile of clothes, probably left their by Lupin, who was now sleeping in a chair in the corner, she quickly dressed and, after making sure only the bare minimum amount of skin was exposed, called to the sleeping man.

Lupin woke when someone called his name, looking up, or down rather, he saw Rogue crouched in the cage. Waving his wand the cage disappeared allowing her to stand.

"How are you feeling?" He asked worriedly, noticing with a small pang of guilt, Rogue's grimace as she moved.

She surged in response, "I've been better."

Lupin thought she was done speaking, but then she opened her mouth once again, "Was that normal? What happened to me? I thought we were only supposed to change on the full moon."

"Normally yes, we're still trying to figure out why you changed early. Dumbledore should be coming back today, I'm sure he'll know something." After Lupin finished speaking an uncomfortable silence filled the room.

"Um, I'll be going then, you should probably try to get some rest, you didn't get much last night," he said turning to go, but her voice stopped him.

"Lupin?" she was shuffling uncomfortably from one foot to the other looking down at the ground, "I wanted to thank you for last night, for watching over me like that, so um, thanks," he noticed her face had gone slightly pink.

Lupin grinned back at her, feeling the tension drain from the air, "Anytime," on a whim, he added "By the way, you really should get some sleep, you look like shit."

Instead of glaring at him, or turning away, Rogue rolled her eyes saying, "Yes, _Dad_," emphasis on the dad.

He grinned at her one last time and left the room feeling happier than he had in a long time.

/

Rouge wanted to sleep, her body ached all over and the thought of disappearing into a world of nothingness was more then tempting, but two things were holding her back. One, the voices in her head, and two fear of her mother. The voices weren't a big deal, she had been dealing with those for a long time, but her mother, that was the real problem.

Rogue had never had to worry about her mother's voice in her head, she had always kept her locked away so deeply in her mind that even the professor hadn't found her. Up until this point, she had held a false since of security about the cage she held her mother in, but now that security had been shattered. Rogue now realized how easily her mind was disrupted, and how easy it had been for her mother to escape. She had to train her mind, make it stronger, but the question was, how?

_"Go to sleep Rogue, we'll wake you if she starts to act up again," Kitty assured her._

_"Yeah sure, in case you haven't noticed, I've gotten pretty good at tuning you all out when I sleep."_

_"Can you sleep through each and everyone of us yelling? Don't forget, even Magneto and his crew want you to live, despite all their talk. If something happens to you, all of us disappear." This was a fairly new voice in Rogue's head._

_"Lupin?" she questioned._

_Logan growled, "Don't trust him Rogue, he's not one of us."_

_"Ah, you're just jealous cause he's treating Rogue like a daughter," Kurt piped up, "Imagine, the great Wolverine with a soft spot for kids."_

Rogue drifted off, reassured by the comforting banter of her friends. She may hate her power and what it did to her, but at least while she may be condemned to live in the real world alone, inside her head the few people she counted as friends would always be with her.

She would deal with how to strengthen her mind when she woke up, but for now she could finally allow herself to drift into a peaceful sleep.

/

The 'War Council' as it had been dubbed by the twins was now in session. Dumbledore had returned only a few minutes ago only to be hustled into the 'War Room', also named by the twins.

"Do you think this has anything to do with You-Know-Who, Dumbledore?" It was the question on everyone's mind.

"Lupin, in your experience has anything like this every happened to you?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, at times when I become stressed or worn out the wolf seems to give me strength, but I've never transformed when it's not the full moon."

Dumbledore sighed and rubbed his temples, "Everything about this girl is strange, and I think we all know there's more to her than meets the eye, but until she trusts us, we can only speculate as to what that is. As far as her unwarranted transformation goes, all we can do for now is keep a closer eye on her and help her strengthen her mind."

"Occlumency?" Lupin asked.

"Occlumency." Dumbledore confirmed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Occlumency?" She asked, Lupin almost thought he could hear a bit of confusion in her voice, but with Rogue, you could never be sure. She never showed any obvious signs of emotion, but as he got to know her more, he noticed the little things.

"It's a way of controlling your mind. Are you familiar with the concept of telepathy?" At this Rogue and Harry nodded their heads, "Good, then think of occlumency as a sort of telepathy, wizards and witches use their magic to reach out their minds and enter into the minds of others." Lupin explained.

"You'll be taking classes with Professor Snape once a week when school starts," Professor McGonagall informed Harry and Rogue.

Rogue's initial response was 'no way in hell', but before she could voice that thought aloud Professor Xavier spoke in her mind.

_"Rogue, wait, don't be so quick to dismiss this opportunity. I know you're scared about other people poking around in your mind, but your telepathic shields should be strong enough to keep them out while you develop your mind even further. This may be the only way to control all of us, all the personalities you have in here. You may even learn to draw forth our powers or even to control your own," The Professor hardly ever chose to speak, preferring to let Rogue have at least that small part of her mind back, but when he did speak, Rogue had always found it best to listen._

Lupin was watching Rogue closely throughout the confrontation, looking for any signs of what she thought about the added class. He saw her open her mouth, as if about to speak. He had been expecting this, expecting her to openly refuse to take the classes, so what happened next surprised him. Instead of speaking, she closed her mouth and went into one of her space like trances. He was sure he wasn't the only one to notice her periodic lapses of reality, but so far no one had asked her about it. These trances appeared to be more then just thoughtfulness, instead, it almost seemed as if she existed in a different reality, one the real world couldn't penetrate. Her trance was shorter that usual, Lupin was sure he was the only one to notice it, and when she re-awoke to reality she simply nodded her head, giving her consent to the class.

Rogue was a mystery, and one that had no interest in revealing its secret.

"You guys get to take occlumency lessons?" Hermione practically squealed when Harry told her the news. Ron just looked confused.

"Dumbledore says it will help with my nightmares, and hopefully help Rogue from going all wolfie without a full moon again," Harry explained, "Though I wish we didn't have to learn from Snape, another hour with him each week is not what I needed."

Harry's disappointment came from more then just his usual dark regard of Snape, he hated the thought that his time with Rogue during these sessions would be ruined by the Professors presence. Taking a quick glance at Rogue, he was disappointed to see that she didn't seem to care about this, but then again, even if she did it was unlikely her facial expression would give it away.

Harry tuned out Hermione as she babbled on about occlumency, only vaguely noticing that Ron was using Hermione's speech as an excuse to stare at her openly. Someday, Harry thought absently, he was going to lock those two in a room full on condoms, maybe then they would finally realize their mutual feelings for each other.

/

After a hectic morning and a few hours travel, Rogue finally found herself seated on the Hogwarts Express, glowering at anyone who tried to talk to her. Not only had she and Hermione been the only one's ready to go at the appointed time, but after finally escaping from the confines of a packed car, she was forced through the heavily crowded station, Lupin trailing after her giving her some last pieces of advice and making her promise to write him right away and tell him if anything was wrong. Lupin's constant fussing and attention hadn't helped matters either, he had started acting like a dad to her or something, and she was almost positive she saw a glimmer of tears in his eyes just before the train pulled out of sight. Despite her dislike of all the attention she was receiving from him, she couldn't help the warm feeling that crept into her heart when thinking about the older wizard. She had never had a dad before, Logan had come close, but he had never shown his affection for her as openly as Lupin was. She had wondered briefly what would happen if the two of them ever met, both of them protective of her and both with traits of the wolf in their blood. _'Their like the perfect couple,'_ she mused to the people in her head. She smiled inwardly at the agreement of her friends and the denial of the two parties in question.

The slight reprieve Lupin's antics had allowed to creep into her mind didn't last long. She had found herself looking around the station with the vague feeling of loss, it was when she realized that she had been looking for Tonks, that she had been hoping the other woman would be there to say goodbye, that her previous glowering mood returned with redoubled force. She refused to let herself get emotionally attached to someone she had only spent a few short hours with, even if they did share some sort of magical wand link, or any other traits in common. She had a scattered memory of looking up at Tonks through a haze of bloodlust and anger, a memory that when their eyes met some of those harsh emotions had frozen briefly and been pushed aside, but she figured that it was some memory of Lupin's, or something compiled from a scrambled mix of memories. She could never be sure anymore.

/

After traveling for several hours in the packed compartment, she was already beginning to regret her decision to stay with the Wizards. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, a boy named Neville, and a girl named Luna were packed into the small compartment with her, promising that the trip to Hogwarts would be cramped and loud.

It was no wonder she was in a bad mood, and the voices in her head didn't help matters, oh no, they made things so much worse.

_"Look, Ron's got the joker, I saw him take it from Luna," Kurt insisted._

_"That was a total fake out, Luna's still got the joker," Todd argued back._

_"Shut up both of you, it's just a fucking joker- now shut the fuck up so I can get some fucking REST!"- yeah, Rogue was REALLY not in a good mood._

Somewhere in Rogue's mind she registered the compartment door opening, but her outburst had caused several of her voices to act up more, while some of the others tried to shut them up- making even more noise and confusion in the process. It wasn't until she felt a hostile hand grab her shoulder, a little to close to the neckline and her skin for comfort, that she jerked back to reality and lashed out without thinking.

/

Harry had found a new hobby, something even better then Quidditch, something much much better. He was watching Rogue. Not all the time mind you, just random glances out of the corner of his eye, tiny peaks that were becoming more and more frequent with each passing minute. At the moment she was withdrawn from the group, her eyes unfocused and glazed over with a shimmering greenish glow. Though she was looking in the general direction of the card game Harry could tell her thoughts were elsewhere, and despite what his common sense was telling him, Harry couldn't keep from hoping that she was thinking about him.

Harry had drifted into a his own inner world of thought but the sound of the door sliding open pulled him back to reality. '_Shit'_ Harry had been to absorbed in his not-so-smooth staring at Rogue to remember that every year around this time a certain someone, someone in the form of an extremely unpleasant boil infection, always seemed to drop by.

Harry had wondered once if Malfoy had a crush on him or something. Every year, every single year Malfoy had sought him out at the first opportunity, as if being deprived of Harry's presence for the summer was too much to bear. And then Malfoy always picked fights with him, teased him, or simply belittled him to no end. Harry knew that little kids tended to tease the ones they liked rather then put any effort into being nice to them, and Harry definitely had doubts about Malfoy's maturity level, so he wouldn't put it past him to copy this younger example. But then Harry had realized that this was Malfoy, Draco Malfoy he was thinking of, and laughed his theory off. Malfoy hated him, it was just as plain and shallow as that.

"What do you want?" Harry snarled as he stood up and pulled out his wand.

Malfoy looked calmly back, not bothering to draw his wand, his goons had already pulled theirs. His eyes roving the compartment, Draco stopped on Rogue, "You've picked up another freak this year I see, and I have to congratulate you Potter, I think she surpasses Luny."

"Get out of here Malfoy," Harry felt himself shaking slightly, "I won't warn you again."

"You've gone soft Potter, I get warnings now? A woman's touch maybe? That freak your girlfriend Potter? Is that really the best you could get? Pity." As Malfoy was speaking he reached out a hand towards Rogue, before Harry could lunge at him (and partly because of Neville, who was trying to look brave for Luna, had tried to jump Malfoy and fallen onto Harry instead), Malfoy's hand landed on Rogue's shoulder and everything changed.

Throughout this encounter Rogue had been firmly engrossed in her thoughts, not seeming to notice the newcomer, but the moment Malfoy's hand touched her she reacted. Malfoy went flying back into his cronies knocking them all over. He struggled to get to his feet but was having trouble breathing with the wind knocked out of him. Rogue advanced on him, and Harry swore he say Malfoy flinch.

"Don't Touch Me." Rogue's voice, normally emotionless, had turned icy and dark.

Harry has a sudden mental image of a lone iceberg lost in the dark ocean, black water surrounding it and threatening to pull it under. Harry was sure that if he could see her eyes, the iceberg would be swept under the waves, never to return to the sun. Malfoy must have thought so to because the next moment he was gone, disappearing into another compartment and sealing the door.

Rogue closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her voices had finally shut up and for once it was quite. Breathing slowly, Rogue relaxed her mussels and forced her emotions back under the surface. That had been to close, another half inch and he would have touched her skin. Her zoning out had gotten worse lately, ever since she had first touched that wand. If it continued to get worse she could end up hurting even more people then she had already. She needed occlumency, and she needed it now.

/

"I'm supposed to be teaching you two occlumency this year, or at least, attempting to teach it," As Snape's greasy voice dragged on, describing the basic principles of occlumency, Harry stole another glance at Rogue. She had been silent ever since her outburst on the train, and no one, not even Luna, was brave enough or crazy enough to comment. Rogue had stalked through the double doors of the Main Hall and sat down without so much as an interested glance at the ceiling, glaring at anyone in her way. The only thing that seemed to lessen her dark mood in the slightest was the news that their first occlumency lesson was going to be that very night after dinner.

"Ready Potter?" Snape's voice had changed from a dull lull to a sharp knife in milliseconds, "Get out your wand, boy."

Rogue felt a little bad for volunteering Harry to go first, but she needed time to collect her thoughts if she was going to do this. Her momentary joy at learning that she was going to get her wish about occlumency had come to a screeching halt when Snape mentioned that it required a wand to practice. She had to make sure that her carefully constructed barriers wouldn't crumble under the combined stress of the Snape's spell and her wand. To do that she needed complete concentration as well as anything she could learn from watching Harry. Harry proved not to be much of a help however, as time and time again Snape emerged with a smirk from Potter's mind, he almost looked as if he was enjoying tormenting Harry.

"Enough!" Snape commanded at last and Harry collapsed gratefully onto the floor.

"Wand ready?" he asked his other student, normally performing occlumency this often in such a short period of time was immensely tiring to any wizard, but Harry had proved even less apt at it then he had expected, crumbling easily with the slightest push. Snape waited for Rogue to pull out her wand, he thought he saw her shudder slightly as she grasped its length and withdrew it from her bag but he must have imagined it. No one disliked the feel of a wand in their hand, in fact, most Wizards and Witches never wanted to let their wands go, but then again, when had a witch ever carried a wand at the bottom of her schoolbag instead of in a pocket or purse?

"Ready sir," Rogue said, her voice seemingly indifferent to her situation.

Snape raised his wand and yelled the spell, expecting her to offer even less resistance then Harry, she had only been practicing magic for a week or two after all. Snape threw his mind at Rogue, throwing all his energy into tearing through her weak defenses and into her inner thoughts, or at least that was the plan. Those weak defenses turned out to be solid walls of iron, iron that he crashed into at top speed. Snape's consciousness was thrown back into his own mind with a deafening (to him) crash. He felt his knees weaken and begin to buckle but managed to pull himself back together in time to steady himself and stand firm.

"How, how on earth did a muggle like you learn to do that?" Snape breathed, his voice slightly weaker then he would have liked.

Rogue had been standing as if unaffected by his attack, "I guess the muggle world prepares you for this sort of thing better then the wizarding world," she said with a slight shrug, her eyes dark eyes meeting his.

"That's it for tonight, you can go now. Report back same time next week."

Harry scrambled for the door only pausing outside it for Rogue to catch up, before once again setting off at a fast pace. Snape watched them go, and as his door swung shut, he sank gratefully into his chair. He would have to start practicing occlumency a little more than he was used to in order to shape up. Harry hardly took any energy out of him, but he did drain enough that Snape had only been able to go one round with Rogue tonight. Rogue was strong but that had only been one attack, Snape wasn't sure how many she could withstand before falling, and before he was sure she could hold off strong attacks like his repeatedly, he couldn't move her onto the next step. After they learned outer, shield control, they would have to learn inner mental control. Not only would they be able to control their conscience mind, but their un-conscience one as well.

Putting her wand back in her bag had helped a little, but not much. Despite her strong outer appearance, Rogue was cracking inside. If Snape had taken another go at her she wasn't sure she would have been able to hold him off, his first attack had been devastating.

_"Stupid idiot, one more go and he would have had you, and then it would have been free rein for whoever wanted you," Magneto growled, unhappy at having missed his chance to gain control._

_"We'll get her next time," Mystique purred._

_"You try and you'll end up missing a leg or maybe an arm," Logan's growl was audible even through the din of the other personalities outbursts to this- some in support, some against._

_"Well good thing our bodies aren't really here then, dumb-ass" Pietro retorted, flipping Logan the bird with his 'finger'._

_"That doesn't mean we still can't beat the crap out of you if you try to hurt Rogue, just because nothing we do will be permanent doesn't meant we can't try," Kurt voiced in his most mainly and un-quavering voice._

_"Yeah so-" "-up you little-" "You think you-" "I'll get you" "-and blood and-" "AGHHHH!" ..._

_In her already weakened state Rogue became lost in the roar of voices, catching bits of sentences amid the shouts and random screams. Her walls were already mostly back in place, but the shock was still there keeping her from ignoring the fight breaking out in her head._

"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!" She screamed, the voices stopped at once but her moment of triumph was ruined by Harry's shocked voice.

"I'm s-sorry, I didn't mean, I don't know what I-, well I'm just really really sorry," He babbled staring at her with a pale, shocked face.

Rogue had yelled out loud, and Harry, who had been chatting away about something for the past few minutes, had thought she had been yelling at him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean you," realizing her mistake Rogue hurried to correct it before Harry could ask the question, "I mean, I didn't really mean it, the Processor just hit me pretty hart and I'm a little, well, you know..." she trailed off hoping Harry would accept her explanation.

Harry just nodded warily at her and then announced, "We're here."

Ahead of them was a portrait of a large, and very pink fat lady, the entrance to her new home.

/

Ron and Hermione had waited up for them to return, questioning them about their occlumency class the moment the two of them had cleared the doorway.

Rogue made an excuse and followed the stairway marked 'Girls' up to the 6th year's doorway. The other girls were already asleep, giving Rogue the chance to collapse onto one of the last two empty beds and avoid further questions. She was to tired tonight to work on the exercises Snape had described to her before he began attacking Harry. She knew she needed to spend the next week using them to prepare herself for Snape's next attempt to get into her mind, but classes started tomorrow, and that meant meeting new people, shoving her way through crowded hallways, and learning her way around this place. Yeah, tomorrow was not going to be fun, but at least it would finally mean that she would be able to begin controlling her magic, and the more control she had at that, the better her occlumency would be.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Almost a month had passed since Rogue had come to Hogwarts, a month that seemed to speed by, leaving her with little time for socializing, something she was very thankful about. She had had no trouble learning her way around the school, she did have Lupin in her head after all, and on the same note, she also was picking up Magic rather quickly. Instead of simply getting the basic talk-through about a spell like the rest of the class, with Lupin she could 'feel' how to do whatever spell she was given and then do it.

Her studies with Snape were also going well, and while progress was slow (she was dealing with many personalities after all) there was definite progress. It was at the point now that she no longer dreaded picking up her wand, she could now handle her wand and strengthen the barriers in her mind so that the voices remained the same instead of gaining volume.

So all in all Rogue was actually starting to enjoy her life. The full moon several days before had been only a minor inconvenience as she spent the night in the Room of Requirement. And despite her best efforts not to, her good mood had made her slightly more receptive of the trios nagging attempts to gain her friendship. On more than one occasion Rogue had allowed herself to get caught up in a conversation with them, and by now they were beginning to get under her skin. It was almost easy to forget who she was here, in a place where everyone wore the long robes, garments that covered the body and her deadly skin effectively, so only her gloves were out of place. Almost easy, that is, until one of the more unpleasant personalities in her head would decide to give her a little reminder.

But so far Rogue was having a good morning, in fact, one might even go as far as to say it was pleasant. She was in the middle of a Saturday breakfast with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, talking about Quidditch. After hearing that an opening had been made available on the Gryfindor team, Rogue had been genuinely interested, much to Harry and Ron's delight, and Hermione's exasperation. From what she had heard about the game, Rogue considered it to be something of a Danger Room situation, and she needed something to keep her reflexes sharp. She had been getting up early to go through routine practice exercises but there was only so much she could do without actual combat situations. And the opening as a beater on the Quidditch team seemed like the best way to keep her senses in tack.

There was another reason for her interest as well, although Rogue would be loath to admit it to anyone, the Danger Room sessions were actually something she enjoyed. When she was fighting she didn't have to think, she could just act. It was in her mind that the voices and personalities lived, so when she ignored her mind and focused solely on physical reflexes and senses, Rogue could almost tell where she ended and the others began.

"So after we finish eating Ron and I'll take you out and show you how to ride a broom," Harry was saying, and Rogue couldn't help but notice that his face was slightly flushed with excitement.

"_He must really love Quidditch," she thought to herself._

"_Or you…" Kitty added with a giggle._

"Are you sure about this Rogue?" Hermione asked, her tone slightly pleading, "I mean, Quidditch is fine and all, but wouldn't you rather spend time with a good book or finishing your homework?"

Ron reached across the table and patted Hermione's hand sympathetically, "You're really stretching there, but don't worry, we promise not to talk your head off about Quidditch if Harry and I manage to corrupt Rogue. Don't we promise, guys?"

His statement was met with a disgruntled 'yes' from Harry and a nod from Rogue. Hermione for her part simply let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head in mock defeat.

/

"Ok so you mount like this…" Harry was explaining as Rogue eyed the battered broom from the shed with mistrust. Harry had offered to let her borrow his broom, but Ron had pointed out that it might be better to start out on something a little slower.

"And when you want to turn…" Harry continued on, and on, and on…

Rogue was very quickly becoming bored, Harry seemed determined to give her every single piece of safety information and 'how to' explanations before he would let her on the actual broom. Ron had flown up five minutes ago to swoop around the goal posts when Harry had started talking about the best way to fly the broom in a straight line, and Rogue was beginning to eye her own broom with a slightly more favorable glance. Finally giving up as Harry turned to the best way to keep a firm grip on the broom, Rogue grabbed her broom, swung her leg over it, and pushed off the ground leaving a stuttering behind Harry to clamor onto his own broom. And then promptly trip over it in his haste.

Once in the air everything seemed to click, her trained senses automatically kicked in to keep her balanced and in control. She was even unconsciously adjusting for the wind and drag. Relying on her reflexes, Rogue found she didn't have to think, just like in the DR she could simply exist. By the time Harry caught up to her, Rogue had already tried out several complex maneuvers and executed them with perfection.

"Hey, be careful!" Harry called, pulling alongside her, "It's your first time on a broom, you have to adjust."

Rogue simply flashed him a cheeky grin and took off, leaving a dazzled Harry behind her. Harry couldn't help grinning to himself as he took off after her again, her smile had been even more beautiful in person that when Tonks had modeled it.

His smile soon disappeared to be replaced with a firm look of concentration as he realized that even though he had the better broom, Rogue was still managing to evade him. Flying was all about the reflexes, and Rogue seemed to have much better reflexes that anyone he had ever seen fly before, including himself. It was all he could do to stay on her tail as she flew from one complex pattern into another.

To anyone watching Rogue fly over the next few weeks, it soon became evident that she belonged in the sky, relying on her senses and reflexes to carry her along. On the ground Rogue was always uptight, always worried about who was getting too close to her, or when the people in her head were going to try and take control, but in the air, she was free.

The Professor had told Rogue once that more than mental shields, what really helped keep the personalities in place was the existence of her own personality, her existence separate from the rest. Almost like trying to draw a line around which parts of Rogue were Marie, and which were parts of the others. He had told her that if she found something that she truly enjoyed, something that she could throw her whole being into, that while she was doing whatever it was, she would be more Marie that she had been since the night her powers manifested.

And so when the day of the Quidditch tryouts arrived two weeks later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched as Rogue easily outclassed the other hopefuls and became the newest member of the Gryfindor Quidditch Team.

Those two weeks were some of the best in Rogue's life, since taking the name of 'Rogue'. With the focus she gained from flying her occlumency lessons became increasingly easy, and Rogue began to remember who she was, who she used to be before- well, just before.

/

Tonks made her way out to the quidditch field to look for Rogue, Neville seemed to think she would be there for some reason. Dumbledore and Snape had called her to Hogwarts a few hours ago, explaining that Rogue was much further in her occlumency training than Harry, and at this point training them together was just holding them both back. Snape needed to be able to focus completely on Harry if there was to be any hope for the boy, and Rogue needed someone who would have their full strength reserved for training her. Tonks herself had studied occlumency in the past, not only was it a traditional part of the auror training, but she found that having more control over her mind helped with her physical transformations. It was easy to get distracted and end up changing something without thinking, but occlumency had helped her get those involuntary changes under control. She was to take over Rogue's training while Snape continued to work with Harry, and Tonks would be lying to herself if she didn't admit that she was thrilled by this news.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she entered the stadium and looked up into the sky to see Rogue. No one else was practicing today, most students were busy cramming for some history test the next day, but Rogue had chosen to rely on what she had already learned and whatever Lupin could tell her, and get in a few hours of flight before dark.

Tonks couldn't help but stare as she watched in amazement as Rogue seemed to melt into the very air itself, becoming part of the wind and sky. This was the first time Rogue had ever seemed to let go, to really relax, and Tonks couldn't help but mirror Harry's thoughts on just how truly beautiful Rogue looked. Rather than interrupt Tonks chose to wait for her to finish, choosing a shadowed area in the stands to sit and watch the flight.

/

Rogue almost lost her grip on the broom as she glanced down at the stands and saw Tonks looking up at her with a strange expression on her face. Maybe it was the excitement of the flight, maybe not, but for the first time Rogue allowed herself to fully feel happy at seeing the auror. Before she could stop herself and talk herself into suppressing the emotion, Rogue swooped down and landed gracefully next to Tonks.

"Hi" was all she could think of to say, well aware of how breathless and windswept she looked. Which was surprising actually, she normally didn't get breathless after so short a physical exercise, interesting.

Tonks grinned at her, noticing the way the exercise had flushed the girls skin giving it a healthy reddish glow. Her hair was also mussed, the white strands pushed back instead of framing her face in the usual way. Without thinking, Tonks reached out her hand to smooth Rogue's wayward hair back into place. Her fingertips had just brushed Rogue's hair when the mood of the entire situation changed.

Rogue's hand shot up violently to catch Tonks's hand in an iron grip while at the same time the smile dropped from her face and she visibly shrank back and into herself. They both remained speechless and frozen, it was only after several long seconds had passed that they both noticed that Rogue had yet to let go of Tonks's hand. A realization that was followed by Rogue promptly letting her go and moving further away.

"Um," Tonks tried to find something to say, her hand still tingling from the strength of Rogue's grip. She thought she should comment on what had happened, but looking at Rogue she was struck by how vulnerable the other woman looked, vulnerable and… scared? Instead she chose to gloss over the event and reveal why she was there. Rogue just nodded, seeming relived for the reprieve, but Tonks could gauge nothing else from her face.

It was only later as Rogue was telling Harry, Ron, and Hermione about the switch in teachers that she stopped to think that this meant that she would be spending a lot more time with Tonks, alone with Tonks in fact. Harry was visibly upset by the news that they would no longer be working together, but Rogue couldn't think about the implications of that now, she had to focus on how to keep someone she felt a clear bond with out of her mind. Harry had told her about how people with similar wand cores could be connected when facing each other using magic, it would be a lot harder to keep Tonks out than it had been with Snape.

/

Tonks looked up nervously as the doorknob turned and Rogue entered the classroom. Dumbledore had regulated one of the lesser-used dungeon classrooms for their lessons, it was small and dark, the only light coming from the magic orbs Tonks had sent to hover just under the ceiling. They hadn't seen each other since the incident as the field several days ago and they were both visibly wearier of each other than they should have been.

Tonks tried to think of something intelligent and professor-ly to say, but Rogue's emotionless demeanor was adding to the chill of the dungeon, freezing her mind. So in some desperate attempt to do something, anything to break the silence Tonks said the first thing that popped into her mind, "I made light…" as she spoke she waver her hand, which was still holding her wand, in the general direction of the light. As her wand pointed to the floating orbs however, they decided that that meant they were supposed to do something and started changing colors, moving through the spectrum of the rainbow and casting multi-colored rays of light into the dark recesses of the room.

"No stop!" Tonks yelled quickly, the light of course, ignored her. She tried flicking her wand at it again, this time being slightly more successful in that they stopped changing color, but slightly less so in that they had settled on a pale pink glow, something that would have been perfect for romantic mood lighting, but not at all appropriate for an occlumency lesson. She felt her face flush in embarrassment, but when she looked back at Rogue and saw the faint outline of a grin pulling at the girls lips, Tonks felt herself relax and allowed a wider grin to spread across her face.

"So today we'll be practicing with pink light, it has the practical application of relaxing your mind and making it easier to break into. Next time I'll try orange, that tends to make you think of fruit and I can distract you with snacks" Tonks's attempt at humor was rewarded as Rogue allowed herself to relax just enough to flash a full grin in her direction. The smile disappeared after a second but the room no longer seemed cold and frozen. Rogue's emotions were physically just as masked as before, but Tonks felt as if on a deeper level, somehow she was able to sense the calm that had descended on the other girl, as if they were connected at a level that transcended physical barriers.

/

Rogue began to look forward to her lessons with Tonks every week, while Snape's lessons had been all about brute force, Tonks's approach used more finance. With her, it was almost like a dance, Tonks would subtly come towards her and Rogue would move with her, each of them finding a pattern to fall into, Tonks leading and Rogue adapting herself to follow. True to her words, Tonks chose a different color for each lesson, often changing her physical appearance to match the lighting, a private joke between the two of them that didn't seem to get old.

Rogue began to feel more comfortable with Tonks than she had ever allowed herself to feel with another person who existed outside of the captivity of her mind. After that night on the field Tonks had made no move to get physically close to her, respecting her space, but the lessons allowed them a different sort of intimacy as their minds and magic flowed around them and connected them. This was a different sort of connection than Rogue would feel with the Professor or Jean, with them all she had been able to do was hold a barrior, but with Tonks and her magic, she was learning how to send out her own mind and meet Tonks halfway, even pushing back at some points. The lessons allowed her to interact with someone without fear of hurting them, and somehow she knew that if Tonks did manage to break through at all, she would pull out immediately and help Rogue repair the damage.

But then it all changed on a rainy Monday, because lets face it, when something glum and dower is about to happen, it just Has to be rainy, and a Monday. It happened when the Owls came swooping in with the mornings post, and as Hermione and several other hundred students in the Great Hall unfolded the newspaper, they were not met with a picture of Fudge, or news on Voldemort, instead the words "MUTANTS! MAGIC vs. SCIENCE" screamed out across the front page. And as Rogue saw a picture of the other X-Men fighting for their life against Magneto she remembered who she was. She was not Marie, not anymore. Sure, she could learn to define herself more vividly in her mind, but she would never again be just Marie. She was Rogue, a person made up of a collection of souls. Marie wasn't strong enough to be in control, but the personality that was Rogue was.

And so it was with the strength of the Rogue that she reached out her hand and pulled the newspaper out of Hermione's limp grasp.

**Newspaper Article:**

**Mutants: Magic vs. Science**

**Just as we have hidden away from all but a few privileged Muggles, another group of people were hiding in the shadows. Yesterday at approximately 3:30 A.M the Wizarding World for the first time looked on at the future of Muggles. They call themselves Mutants, Muggles who claim to be evolved, genetically changing to become beings of great power. Could their power rival Magic? Could they actually lead the Muggles to overtake the Wizarding world? It has long been understood, though in the past century largely unspoken, that should we so choose, the Wizarding World could come out of hiding and control the Muggle world. But now that truth, that safety blanket, if you will, has been ripped away, torn to sunders. The group of Mutants pictured here are called by the name of 'X-Men'- an elite fighting team trained to use their powers with the utmost ease and control. The opponent in these pictures is a Mutant who calls himself Magneto, a Mutant who has his own fighting team as well. With these two examples, one can only wonder what other threats the Mutants pose, what other teams of Mutants have been training to control their vast power. And then there is another terrifying question, would these Mutants be willing to work for Wizards and Witches? Is it possible that out world will be overtaken by an army of mercenaries we have no idea how to fight? Mercenaries who will gladly join with the dark side for power? Is it possible…**

**Continued on PG. 2**

Rogue skimmed the rest of the article and then handed the paper back to Hermione. It was obvious that the Wizards didn't really get it, they still saw the mutants the same way they say muggles, just a more dangerous side. Instead of taking about what the X-Men were fighting for, or rather, against, the article was filled with fears of mutants joining the dark side for power. They didn't seem to get that muggles and mutants could make their own decisions, just like Wizards could. Instead of a large group of individuals, the Wizarding world saw muggles as 'Us' vs. 'Them', or rather, 'Us' vs. 'Uber-Them' now. But no matter what the Wizarding world thought, the real question was what did the muggle world think. Rogue couldn't help feeling the sick twisted emotion of guilt as she thought of her friends and teammates back home, she was living in secret, but now the whole world knew about them. She should be there with them, she was an X-Men too, she should be with them.

She knew their fighting style well enough that even from the quick clip of action shown in the paper Rogue could tell they weren't at their best. There was a hole in their fighting unit, a whole where she used to be, and now with her gone they didn't seem to be able to completely compensate for the loss. To an outsider they might appear to be a truly unstoppable force, but to Rogue, the weakness caused by her disappearance was blatantly obvious.

Classes were canceled that day and all students were asked to return to their dorms. There wasn't any real immediate fear of mutants, but the teachers had to get some sort of story together, some sort of plan. So while the teachers filed out of the Great Hall to go to a meeting and the students were shepherded back to their dorms, some talking excitedly, some fearfully, Rogue kept to herself. Slipping away from the rest of the students, Rogue crept along to the Room of Requirement. When she entered it the room was filled with dummies, targets, and a variety of weapons. Throwing herself into the fight with gusto Rogue tried to drown her guilt in the adrenaline, she fought to remember who she was as Rogue, shoving the idea of 'Marie' back into the recesses of her mind. As she tore through the dummies and deflected missiles, one thought replayed itself in her mind,

"_I am Rogue, I am Rogue, I am ROGUE!"_

_And somewhere, deep under her screamed words, another voice chuckled darkly saying, "Yes, you are."_

/

Snape bowed before Lord Voldemort, his dark mark still throbbing dully. Dumbledore had scarcely asked him to go to the Dark Lord to see what his take on all of this was, when Voldemort had summoned him of his own accord.

"I assume you've heard?" the deathly cold voice of the Dark Lord inquired. Snape could barley suppress a shudder as the voice seemed to roll over and threw him, cutting away all warmth and light.

"Yes, Master"

"And what do you suggest I do about it?"

"Nothing, Master."

"Nothing? Surly you aren't about to pass up such a good opportunity to increase my power?" The Dark Lords voice had, if possible, gotten even more cold and chilling then before.

Making sure to keep his head lowered, Snape tried to ignore the perspiration that was making his eyes burn, "We do not fully understand these mutants, my Lord, it is best to stay away. After all, they can only hurt us if they know we exist."

"But my army is made up of more than just Wizards, I have other creatures at my call, so why not these beings?"

"Forgive me my Lord, but I just don't believe that these mutants can really be considered on the same level as the Giants or Dementor's. They're simply a more advanced form of muggle after all. The creatures you refer to are magical, they fit into our world, but these people are different, they're science, and our world had no idea how to deal with science." Snape should have stopped there, but some stupid, desperate part of him made him open his mouth again, uttering the fateful words, "We might not be powerful enough to control them, if we let them into out world, they may become the masters instead of you."

Even as the last words were leaving his mouth, Snape realized what he had just said, but even this realization could not fully prepare him for the pain that engulfed his body. The Dark Lord wasn't happy, and when the Dark Lord wasn't happy, nobody else around him was happy either.

Dimly through the pain Snape heard Lord Voldemort; "I am the master, and these mutants will serve me just like all the rest."

When Snape returned to Hogwarts several hours later it was with the news that Voldemort was planning to recruit mutants into his army.

"Should we do the same?" McGonagall asked in a shakings voice, "The Order has no idea how to deal with this kind of threat."

"No," As Dumbledore spoke, it struck Snape how different his voice was from that of the Dark Lord. Whereas Voldemort's voice was commanding in a deathly chilling sort of way, Dumbledore commanded power with warm strength and respect. Instead of the shivers he felt when Voldemort spoke, one couldn't help but feel save and at ease when the Headmaster chose to talk.

"We do not pull people into a war that doesn't concern them. Voldemort may do so, but we will not make others fight our battles, this is a Wizards war, not a muggle one. Show me a Wizard who is also a mutant and I'll be more than happy to accept their help, but until that happens, the muggles stay out of it."

And so it was decided, they would not include mutants in their fight unless there was a person who possessed both Magic and Science, little did they know that just such a person existed, and they were to find they out sooner, rather than later.

/

It had been three weeks since the news about the mutants had become public, and in all that time Snape had not been called to Voldemort's side once. So it was with some surprise that he felt his mark burn painfully during the Saturday lunch. Quickly excusing himself, Snape made his way out of the Castle and off the Hogwarts grounds. When he finally appeared before the Dark Lord, he couldn't help a small shudder from shaking his body.

"My Lord," he said as way of greeting, "I take pleasure in your call, after my false concerns the last time we met, I have been hoping for the chance to make it up to you."

"Severus, my servant, I called you here to witness just how unfounded your concerns were," As the Dark Lord talked Snape felt his insides turn cold. In his haste to answer the summons he had forgotten that today was the day of a Hogsmead trip, Potter and his friends would be more vulnerable then before. He could only hope that the guards Dumbledore had sent to Hogsmead were prepared.

"Surly, my Lord, you don't plan to sent mutants to dispatch of the boy? What would people say if they thought that muggles could do something you yourself failed to do?" Snape knew his words were risky, but he needed to know the plan.

Voldemort's laugh shook through to his core, "As astute as ever, Severus, but don't worry, my plan is not to kill the Potter boy, he is, as you pointed out, Mine. Oh no, I plan to destroy his first. There's a spell, an ancient spell that our Ancestors used to use in the times when brute strength sometimes meant more that magical prowess. But as that notion has died out in the last few centuries I never even considered the possibility until now. Do you know which spell I am referring to, Snape?"

Licking his dry lips, Snape answered, "The Coliseum, my Lord?"

The slow smile that spread across Voldemort's face was more than enough of an answer.

The Coliseum, was a spell cast by a single Wizard or Witch. It created a dome cage around a specific area. The castor mentally selected everyone whom he wanted in the cage and everyone else would be pushed out by the spell. Once this spell was cast no more magic could be used in the cage until the castor or the opponent was either unconscious or dead. To this day, no one had been able to figure out how to break the cage from the outside.

"But my Lord, if you don't wish to kill the boy, what purpose could this possibly serve?"

"Potter is going to watch his friends die, he's going to be right next to them, and they're going to die."

With that, Voldemort pulled out his wand and muttered under his breath causing a window seemed to appear. A window that showed four students walking along in Hogsmead talking amongst themselves. As five figures stepped out of the shadows suddenly, Voldemort whispered, "It has Begun."

Snape knew he was too late, there was nothing he could do but watch.

/

Rogue tensed warily as five people stepped out in front of them, she barley had time to register that four of the five were obviously mutants before the fifth one shouted a long string of incomprehensible words. A light blue bubble spread out from the Wizards wand moving through the five adversaries and Rogue, Ron, and Hermione. When it touched Harry, on the other hand, instead of going through him like it had the others it swept him out and dumped him in a heap 25 ft back or so.

"Time to have some fun," the Wizard was saying, then looking directly at Hermione, he continued, "It's almost a shame I can't have you all to myself, Mudblood, I could have fun with a pretty little thing like you,"

Ron's cry of outrage was silenced by Hermione's fearful hand. "Don't antagonize him Ron, please," she begged, her eyes fearful.

Harry stood up, pounding on the blue wall in front of him. His friends were trapped in a bubble about 50ft across with five very un-welcoming looking people. As Moody, Tonks, and several other aurors he didn't know appeared next to him, Harry cried out, "DO SOMETHING!"

Moody looked at him, his single eye a seemingly dark empty pit, "We can't, Harry, there's nothing we can do."

And Harry felt his blood run cold. He was going to watch his friends die, he was going to watch them die and not be able to do a single thing to stop it.

Rogue tuned out Hermione's frantic explanation of the spell and focused on the four mutants facing her. So she couldn't use magic and it was four against one, oh well. She had the element of surprise, they didn't expect her to be able to fight back, and these mutants were lumbering brutes, obviously chosen because they were stupid and easy to control with offers of power. Their overconfidence was blatant as they made a show of their powers first, obviously looking to impress and terrify.

Tonks stared in horror at the scene before her. The three students in the bubble looked incredibly small compared to the four mutants facing them. The first mutant was issuing blasts of explosive power into the ground around him, laughing hysterically as they turned stone cobbles into rubble. He was tall, with bright blue hair and jet black eyes. The power seemed to be some form of electricity. The second mutant was short and lean, her skin emitting a faint yellow glow. As Tonks watched, the yellow energy focused in her left hand and formed a glowing sword. The third mutant had long silver hair. All around him the stone cobbles were pulling themselves out of the ground to circle him lazily. The last mutant was the typical body builder. He was swinging around half of a dumbbell with ease.

Tonks was aware that Harry was pounding on the bubble frantically and she wished desperately that it would help but knew it would be useless. As the realization that the three students were going to die swept over her, Tonks ignored her training and focused on Rogue. She knew she should be watching the mutants, looking for weaknesses to use in future battles, but at the moment she didn't care about any future, she was suddenly filled with the certainty that any future without Rogue in it would be meaningless. She didn't really understand where that thought came from and she didn't care. She had grown to really like Rogue in the past few months, to like and respect her. She was going to at least show her the respect of watching her die with dignity, not turn away and hide, which was what she really wanted to do. She was amazed at the composure the other woman was showing however. Ron and Hermione had been in dangerous situations before, but without their magic they had seemed to turn into frightened teenagers. Rogue, on the other hand seemed to age in this situation. She was standing firmly watching the mutants with a look of concentration on her face. If she was afraid, nothing about her stance or expression would let anyone know.

The spell caster was well behind the four mutants and Rogue realized that any act on her part to take him out first and end the spell would leave her open to an attack from behind, not to mention it would leave Ron and Hermione without defense. She would have to take out the mutants first.

"Ron, Hermione, get as far back as you can," Rogue whispered hurriedly, "Get as far away from this as possible and stay back."

"Wha-" Hermione started to protest but Rogue shot them a glare and Ron quickly pulled Hermione away. Glad she had opted to dress in 'Muggle' clothes for this outing, Rogue shifted her stance and waited for the first move. With one last look around to make sure Ron and Hermione were out of immediate danger, Rogue took off her gloves.

"She took off her gloves!" Hermione whispered disbelievingly in Ron's ear.

"No offense, Hermione, but I think we have other things to worry about right now." Ron shot back while trying to drag Hermione further away.

Hermione's next comment was cut off as the mutant with the stone missiles let out a yell and charged at Rogue.

The onlookers felt as if they owed it to Rogue to watch and not turn away, some because they enjoyed it, some because they were helpless, and some because they knew they were next. But the events that followed were anything but what they expected.

Rogue allowed her training to kick in and launched herself into a complex battle movement that allowed her to evade the rocks streaming towards her. In a matter of seconds the charging opponent met her face to face, or rather, face to hand, as Rogue wasted no time and let her skin do its work. As a new persona began to take shape inside her head, Rogue quickly wrapped it in mental chains. The chains wouldn't last for long but she had other matters to deal with right now. As her eyes met the other mutants, all of whom were wearing looks of shock and horror on their faces, Rogue gathered her strength and attacked. The rocks that had moments ago tried to crush her now flew towards her opponents mercilessly.

Harry watched in horror as the rocks closed in on Rogue, and even years later, he wouldn't be able to tell you if what he saw next relieved that horror, or only worked to intensify it. Rogue wove in and out of the rocks with ease, and then as she came to face her opponent she touched him. And that's all it took. A simple touch from Rogue had the other mutant looking like death warmed over. Blue veins stood out all over his skin which was quickly turning ashen gray.

Rogue was a Mutant.

The body builder stepped in front of the other two mutants and Rogue's rock missiles bounced off him uselessly. Rogue kept up the charge however and as she drew close the mutant threw a punch at her face. If the hit had connected it was quite obvious Rogue would have been killed instantly, instead however, Rogue easily danced to the right and grabbed the giant fist as it speed past her. In the few seconds that it took for the mutant to move past Rogue, it was already too late. Rogue had enough of his power to use his own momentum against him and swing him around in the air. By the time she let him go, sending him off in the general direction of his teammates he was unconscious and she was rushing to hold his persona in the same temporary chains as the first.

The two remaining mutants dodged their flying teammate and slowly circled Rogue. Not wanting to give them time to form a plan, Rogue mentally picked up the rocks again and sent them against the Sword Mutant while she herself advanced on the Electricity Mutant. Her plan was to knock-out the Electricity Mutant and then take out the other one from a distance. Draining two people in this short a time was safely within her limits, three on the other hand, was pushing it, and four, well, she didn't want to risk having to drain four.

As she advanced on her target, she got caught up in dodging the hastily thrown bolts of electricity and lost track of the last mutant. Rogue didn't have time to waste trying to relocate the final mutant, she had to get this over with quickly so she could cage her newest tenets more firmly in place. Just as Rogue was about to land a kick to her targets temple, the final mutant reappeared. As it turned out, her power was more that just a sword, the yellow energy had reformed itself into a bubble shield that Rogue's kick bounced uselessly off.

They had reached a standstill, with the two remaining adversaries held safely in the shield, Rogue couldn't get at them, but neither could they attack her. Rogue felt cold dread pool in her stomach as she realized the only was to finish this. She advanced on the bubble, pushing them against the spell shield and herself. Using the strength she had stolen, Rogue placed her hands on the yellow bubble and pushed. At the same time, she once again gathered up the rocks and sent them knocking into the shield again and again. If she was right, these mutants were fairly untrained, meaning that the woman wouldn't have enough mental training to hold the shield against a great amount of pressure. The only problem was, once the shield broke, Rogue would be too close to both of them to take them out in a simple physical attack. Her only chance would be to set herself up so that the moment the shield broke, each of her hands would find the flesh of one of the mutants, meaning that she would have to drain them both at once. Any other move would leave her open to an attack from one of them.

As the shield shrank and compressed, Rogue mentally tried to prepare herself for what was to come, that didn't make it any easier when it did though. When the shield broke she was close enough to both of them to place her hands on their faces before they could react. The shock of absorbing two people at once, on top of the two she already had touched a minute or two ago made Rogue scream out in pain, and, as the last two mutants fell to the ground, Rogue swayed and collapsed to her knees, her hands against her temples.

Rogue lost all awareness of the outside world and focused completely on what was going on in her mind. She had to get these four locked away as securely as possible, a task they were not making any easier for her. Without the occlumency training, she knew, there would have been no possible way she could cope with draining four people in such a short time gap, but because of the mental training she had put herself through in the months since coming to Hogwarts, such a feat was not impossible, or so she hoped.

Hermione watched as Rogue sank to the ground, her body glowing a faint yellow and letting off electrical sparks. The rocks that had not been reduced to rubble were fiercely flying around her, knocking into each other and smashing into smaller chunks.

She almost missed when Ron pulled away from her and marched across the area to stand in front of the stunned Wizard. With his eyes glued on Rogue, the Wizard didn't see Ron until he was right in front of him.

"Nobody threatens Hermione like that, Nobody," Ron said as he swung his fist and let it connect squarely with the mans jaw. As the Wizard fell backwards the blue barrier disappeared.

/

"My Lord-" Snape said breaking the silence.

"LEAVE ME!" The Dark Lord snarled. His already pale face had turned a ghostly white and his knuckles stood out against the harsh ball of his clenched fists.

Snape didn't have to be told twice, bowing quickly he left. The relief that swept his body was only partly for the students, a small part, a very small part, was thankful that Voldemort hadn't lashed out at the first available opportunity, namely, Snape's convenient presence.

/

By the time Dumbledore arrived the aurors had secured the five unconscious people and they stood looking at Rogue, whose situation had not changed.

Whereas the actual fight had only taken a few minutes, Rogue's battle in her mind seemed to drag on and on. No one knew quite what to do, they couldn't approach her, but they couldn't just leave her either.

Lupin had showed up a few minutes after Dumbledore, and after a quick scan of the others, he took off to try to get to Rogue. After several failed attempts to use a protecting spell to make it to her side, he finally had to give up. Even if the rocks couldn't hurt him through the shield they could propel him backward and away from Rogue. Lupin had to satisfy himself with simply watching her intently, waiting for something to change in her condition.

After an agonizing hour of watching Rogue suffer alone in the middle of the flying rubble, Tonks stepped forward and circled around until she was facing Rogue. They had all tried calling to her, but Tonks wanted to take a slightly different approach. The mental connection they had formed over the past weeks of training was still new, still developing, but Tonks hoped it would be enough to allow her to help the other woman. Closing her eyes and focusing completely on Rogue, Tonks blocked out the exterior world and then opened her mind and reached out for the presence in front of her.

She was used to finding a mind that was secure and closed but the mind she encountered now was anything but that. Rogue's mind was in chaos, it seemed as if Tonks wasn't the only one who was trying to contact her mentally, but she knew that was false. No one else was using occlumency on Rogue right now, the other presences she was feeling were all inside of the girls mind, and right now they were fighting for control. Preparing herself for what was to come, Tonks took a deep breath, relaxed her mind and body, and dived into the swirling chaos that was Rogue.

/

_Rogue was exhausted, the personalities in her mind that were her friends in the exterior world were trying to help her, holding the older and darker personalities at bay, but fighting these four new minds all at once was wearing her down. She felt herself slipping backwards into her mind, she had gotten the new minds into the mental cages she kept there, but in her present state the only way to do that was to go in first and drag them all in after her. Getting them down there hadn't been to difficult but climbing back out was the problem, every time she got close to escaping they would pull her back and her strength was slowly dwindling to the point where she wasn't sure she would be able to make it at all. That's when she felt a different presence reach for her, a warm and comforting presence that wrapped around her and gave her the foothold she needed to pull free. _

'_Tonks,' she thought, recognizing the mind._

'_I'm here,' was the soft reply, 'I've got you Rogue,'_

/

Finally, after nearly two hours, when someone was suggesting a levitation spell to move her, the flying rocks began to drift slowly to the ground. The yellow glow of her skin faded and her body stopped sparking.

Looking up her eyes met those of Lupin, and in a soft, shaky voice, she whispered, "Don't touch my skin," and then collapsed into deep unconsciousness. Almost at the same time Tonks also came out of her trance, Dumbledore had realized what she had been trying, and succeeding to do, and made sure that no one had done anything to distract her from the task. Tonks managed to stay awake just long enough to glance at Rogue and make sure she was all right and then she also slipped into the unconscious world. Moody was just quick enough to catch her as her limp body fell to the ground.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Lupin slid the discarded gloves back onto Rogues hands, careful to mind her warning and not to come in contact with her skin. He hadn't been around to see the fight, but by now he had heard enough renditions to last him a lifetime. He couldn't help but think back to what Rogue had said before, when she had first come to them, about how she wanted her family to think she was dead because she was too great a danger to them already. Now that her words finally made sense he found himself wishing they didn't.

"We should take her back to my office," Dumbledore's voice broke through Lupin's thoughts and he found himself nodding in agreement. One of the aurors stepped forward to carry Rogue, but Lupin picked her up himself, carefully restraining the growl that was threatening to push past his lips. Even though he wasn't in wolf form at the moment it was still a part of him, and he was protective of his pack. By biting Rogue he had made her part of his pack, a pack that hadn't had a new member since his time as a student himself, a pack that had, until recently, been reduced to one. As such, the Alpha-male part of him refused to let anyone else care for Rogue at the moment, when it was his duty, not only as the leader of the pack, but also as her wolf-father to help her.

/

As Rogue drifted closer to wakefulness she was careful not to let the change in her status show. She kept her breathing relatively steady but with enough variation that it would not appear to be intentionally so, and let her body remain limp until she was fully awake and as aware of her surroundings as she could be with her eyes closed. She was lying on something soft, not a bed, a couch then. That ruled out the possibility that she was in a hospital or a prison and made her sure she was probably in someone's office. Listening more closely she could pick up the gentle whirling and chirping sounds of many magical instruments. So she was in Dumbledore's office, but where was everyone else? Concentrating even more she picked up several different breathing patterns. No one seemed to be talking or even moving, but there were defiantly several people in the room.

"She's been out for almost five hours!" Lupin's harsh whisper broke the relative silence, "Shouldn't we call a nurse or something?"

Rogue mentally kicked herself at that. The concern in Lupin's voice was clearly evident, these people weren't being quite to hide themselves, they were being quite because they were concerned about her and at a loss as to what they could do. And here she was being paranoid and making them worry longer. Ignoring a snide comment from Magneto, Rogue sat up before someone else could answer Lupin.

"I'm fine," she told the room, her own voice soft as she took in the people that had been waiting for her to wake. Her eyes fell on Lupin first and she gave him a small smile to let him know she really was ok. She was answered by a relieved grin that crept into the older man's eyes. Quickly scanning the rest of the room she noticed Dumbledore sitting behind his desk with several aurors and Snape crowded around him, and Ron and Hermione sitting on a different couch across from her. Her eyes finally came to a stop on Harry, who had been standing behind Ron and Hermione and had clearly been fretting without end. The sleeves of his robe had been twisted and crumpled countless times and his hair was in even greater disarray than usual. As she met his eyes a huge smile spread across his face. She looked away quickly, focusing on Dumbledore instead. Rogue had been trained in observation, and on top of that, she wasn't stupid. She had known for awhile that Harry had a crush on her, she had hoped that by simply ignoring it he would move one, but after several months that didn't seem to be happening. Even after today's demonstration he didn't seem to get it, she would have to take steps to let him know it wasn't going to happen, it just wasn't possible.

"_Rogue, you need to stop limiting yourself by your mutation," Storm's gentle voice broke through her thoughts, "give the boy a change."_

"_Common Rogue, live a little!" Kitty this time._

"_No, you guys know I can't do this," Rogue sent back, "even if I could learn to control my skin, I can't trust myself with a relationship. You know how this works, I mean, after I absorbed Lance I practically jumped you, Kitty, when you were coming out of the shower that one time. I don't get to fall in love, there's not enough of ME left to fall in love."_

_After Rogue's last comment the voices in her head dimmed a little, they knew she was right. You needed to be one person to fall in love and stay in love. As Marie she could love, but as Rogue she was in love with many people to different degrees. _

_Finally Magneto spoke up, thankfully changing the subject, "You know they're all watching you right now, they can tell you're spaced out."_

"_Shit!" Each time after absorbing someone it was always easier to forget about the outside world and slip into her inner world without thinking. She was in a room full of people waiting for her explanation and she still was pulled into her inner mind so easily. It was getting worse._

"Rogue?" came Dumbledore's questioning voice.

"Sorry, I'm back now," She said, blinking several times to clear her eyes. This time when she opened her eyes however, it wasn't Lupin's face she saw first, but that of Tonks. Tonks looked a little pale but otherwise unharmed by the excursion into Rogue's mind, and as Tonks offered her an encouraging smile Rogue felt a wave of relief pass over her. She knew she should feel violated that Tonks had entered her mind, the way she felt when a new personality joined or when the Professor or Jean pushed through, but for some reason having Tonks there hadn't felt that way. It had seemed natural almost, as if their minds were compatible and meant to fit together.

'_You know…' Kitty's voice spoke hesitantly, 'Tonks managed to pick you out, Tonks managed to pick out Rogue, not Marie. Maybe to her Rogue is a solid enough of a person to be the real you, maybe Rogue is just the evolution of Marie…' _

_Rogue ignored her, trying to focus on staying connected to the exterior world, something that was made easier by her continued eye contact with Tonks. But she was still able to hear the soft voice of Kurt in the background whisper, 'And she's only a few years older than you…' _

Taking a breath Rogue looked away from Tonks and looked around the room again. She could see that they wanted to know, they had questions but she wasn't sure just how much she was willing to answer. Nothing about the X-Men, that she was sure of, at least for right now.

Before any of them could ask just what exactly she had meant by saying that she was 'back' and where exactly she had gone in the brief moments before, the door to Dumbledore's office flew open and a multitude of wizards and witches filled in. At the head was the Wizard she recognized as Fudge, the Minister of Magic, and he didn't look at all happy to see that she was awake.

/

Fudge suppressed a sigh of annoyance when he saw that the girl was awake. Politicians were notorious for taking forever to get things done, in the almost seven hours since the report about the attack had come in, he had had countless meetings, given out who knows how many promises for future favors, and overall been frustrated to his limit. No one else seemed quite sure what to do about the situation, they didn't realize that even if this girl, this mutant had saved the lives of a few students, she was still dangerous, especially being so close to Harry Potter. The lack of information they had on her was astounding, no last name, no address, no past of any kind, and worse of all, no clear idea what mutants really were and what they could do. She wasn't supposed to have magic, but now that she did, the thought of what she could do with her witch powers and mutant ones was terrifying. He had finally managed to convince the other higher-ups that they needed to take this girl into custody until they were sure just exactly who she was and what she wanted, but now that he had gotten here she was awake. If she chose to fight them things could get very messy, and if she didn't, well that would make it harder to show that she needed to stay locked up because she was dangerous. If they had managed to get her while she was still unconscious things would have been neutral and he could have bent the situation however he liked.

"Minister, what a pleasant surprise. You must have heard about how our student Rogue over there saved the lives of two other students today." Through the pleasant words Fudge shuddered slightly as the icy tone and warning look in the older wizards eyes swept over him. The welcoming smile on Dumbledore's lips stopped far short of his eyes which were sharp and calculating. Fudge also noticed how the other people in the room, the people he hadn't just brought in with him, had moved closer to the girl creating a protective wall around her.

"Unfortunately I've come on a slightly less, ah, happy mission," even though he could feel his skin crawl as he forced himself to hold Dumbledore's gaze Fudge refused to back down, he was in charge here after all, no one had elected Dumbledore Minister of Magic. "You see, this whole mutant development is rather new to us, and we, we being myself and the council, feel that it would not be prudent to allow a mutant to remain at Hogwarts. Especially when she so obviously is willing to use her powers for violence and to hurt other people."

/

Rogue should have been prepared for this, she had been when she first woke up, but after finding herself surrounded by people who cared about her she had let herself feel safe. And now as this wizard prattled on about how they knew nothing about her and how dangerous she was, Rogue felt her anger rising. How dare he treat her like this, like some Thing that he needed to dissect in order to understand. He hadn't once called her by his name, instead referring to her as 'the girl', or 'mutant'.

"Isn't it a bit too coincidental just how this all evolved? Lupin's potion gets stolen on the same night when this girl just happens to be wandering the alleys alone? He just happens to run into her, the one person who happens to have the right 'powers' to make sure that he didn't kill her and would be in the area to take her into his home when he woke? The connection to Potter? And the fight today, how she was conveniently there to save them? It's all too lucky, until we can be sure this isn't part of some plan to aid You-Know-Who. The girl will be coming with us."

As Fudge finished his speech he turned his head to look directly at her, his beetle eyes making her feel like she was filthy and needed to be taken out. But more than that, his last words were what struck her most, "the four other Mutants are all in comas and won't be talking anytime soon, and the wizard had a spell on him to kill him in case of capture. She probably made sure they would all be beyond help as a cover-"

Rogue knew this was not the time to get angry, she knew that her only hope was to stay in control, but as he talked about how she had hurt them willingly in order to betray her friends, because yes, they had become friends despite her efforts to avoid it, something in her snapped and she surged to her feet.

"How dare you," she growled, "how dare you say that I wanted to hurt those people. Do you have any idea what it's like? Living in a world where you can't even give someone a hug because you might hurt them? Ever since my powers manifested all I've been able to do is hurt people with them, even if I use them to help others, I can't do it without causing pain to the people in my way. And do you think this just goes away? After their powers fade I'm me again?" Rogue knew she should stop but it had been so long since she had talked about how much it hurt her to use her powers or since she had allowed herself to show much emotion that the words just kept pouring forth. Even as the tears began cascading down her face she couldn't stop the flood of anger and guilt that was threatening to pull her under. "Why do you think I call myself 'Rogue'? I used to have a normal name, a normal life, but I used to be one person," (her mother's personality had only manifested after her powers had), "but not anymore. Now I'm a collection of people, each person I've ever absorbed is in here. There are so many voices and memories and feelings that I can never be sure when I end and they begin. How dare you say that I would ever use my powers to intentionally hurt people except as a last resort. I have to keep everyone at arm's length just so that they don't get hurt! My skin is toxic, don't you see? There is no 'off' switch…"

And then Rogue carried it too far. Up until this point everyone had been stunned into silence by her outburst, people who had never seen her show more than a slight smile to hint that she did indeed have emotions were now pressed into a stunned silence by the intensity of her outburst. By the flood of pain and anger they could see in her eyes and through the tears that were still falling unhindered down her face. But as Rogue spoke she took a step forward and pulled off her glove exposing her skin and glaring at her hand with a look of hatred. And that's when several stun spells hit her body and she went flying back into the wall. From there she slumped to the ground and lay still, a small trickle of blood seeping from her nose.

Several of the men Fudge had brought with him had taken her movement as a threat and had dealt with it accordingly.

/

"There you see!" Fudge almost yelled, and no one in the room missed the excited squeak of triumph in his voice, "She was going to attack me! She's a menace that must be dealt with! Now move aside and let us through. We'll be taking her back to the ministry until further notice."

Lupin stepped in front of her prone body, Harry and Tonks close behind him, "Do you think we'll just let you take her? She wasn't going to attack you, she was just trying to explain, or didn't that get through to your insensitive little brain?" Lupin's words were all laced with a hint of a growl, the threat of the wolf protecting its own.

"Now, now Lupin," Fudge's voice was dripping with an obvious lack of respect as he looked at the werewolf with something akin to disgust in his eyes. "You've been blinded by your little 'puppy love' or whatever bond you think you have with that thing, now stand aside or I'll have you arrested for the obstruction of justice!"

As Fudge spoke two of the men with him stepped forward with their wands ready, but Lupin was already on the move, his own wand appearing in his hand. Only Dumbledore's hand on Lupin's shoulder was able to stop chaos from erupting.

"Surly there can be some agreement, Minister," Dumbledore's voice was soft yet at the same time thrumming with power. "Let Rogue stay here, where we can revive her and give her some time to calm down and then we can ask her questions, together, and solve this situation without any more violence."

Fudge felt the calming power of Dumbledore's words start to take effect on him, he even almost found himself nodding in agreement. But when, in the corner of his eye, he saw his men begin to lower their wands something in him rebelled. He refused to be pulled around by Dumbledore any longer, he would have his way. The girl was a menace, and when he revealed it, when he showed that he had been able to discover the truth over Dumbledore, it would secure his place in history. People would stop whispering behind his back that he was Dumbledore's puppet and he would have the respect he deserved.

"No," Fudge spat back, "Do not stand in my way, Dumbledore, I am the Minister of Magic, and I will take whatever precautions are needed to protect my people!"

/

Dumbledore's heart fell when he saw the power hungry look come into the Minister's eyes. He knew that look, he had seen that look many times in the eyes of people who were on the edge of going insane and power hungry for recognition. If he pushed any more Fudge would only fight back harder, the only hope they had now was to let him take Rogue and question her. If he fought Fudge any longer the man would become determined to find something incriminating about Rogue, and he might be willing to do anything to find or fabricate evidence, anything, including the use of the forbidden curses.

He bowed his head slightly, admitting defeat, "As you will, Minister," he said softly, moving aside to let them have a clear path to Rogue. The others looked slightly confused but followed his lead, trusting that Dumbledore would explain his reasoning once the Minister and his men had gone.

/

Harry rounded on Dumbledore as soon as the door closed and Fudge, his men, and Rogue were gone. "Why?" he demanded, refusing to believe that his mentor had just turned over the person who had saved his other friends from certain death, "Why did you let them take her?"

His question was echoed by the other people in the room. When Dumbledore was finished explaining, when he had told them just exactly why he had backed down the room was left in silence except for the wiring of the magical instruments.

"Are you sure it's not already too late? Will he let her go when he finds nothing?" Hermione's voice was shaking slightly but the question had to be asked.

"I don't know," Dumbledore's voice seemed tired and unsure to all of them, "I really don't know."

"Well I for one am not going to sit around and hope the old man hasn't cracked yet, not if there's even the slightest possibility that he'll resort to extreme measures to get what he wants," Tonks snapped. She had allowed them to take Rogue because of her faith in Dumbledore, but after hearing of the potential danger, she didn't think trust in Dumbledore at this moment was all it was cracked up to be. Looking around at the faces that were now turned towards her Tonks continued, "I've been working with Rogue for some time to help her control her mind, if Fudge has cracked and tries to break her he will not find his task easy. With what she's learned from me she will be able to resist all attempts to infiltrate her mind by others, whether they try occlumency or truth potions. She has one of the strongest minds I've ever encountered, and part of that strength comes from wanting to protect her friends, probably whatever mutants trained her and took care of her. She won't break easily and because of that, whatever he tries to get through to her will be far, far more brutal than any usual top-secret methods the Ministry uses to get their information from Death Eaters. Death Eaters are weak, they are loyal to their lord but even more loyal to themselves, so they break, Rogue will not. I will not be responsible for letting Fudge torture her because I gave her the tools she needed to resist other forms of information gathering. If there is even the slightest chance he will resort to such means, we need to get her out, now."

Turning, Tonks looked at Dumbledore, "I understand why you let them take her, and I don't disagree with you there. If we refused it would turn the entire wizarding community against us and Rogue wouldn't have a chance. We need to get her out in a way that can't be connected to us, but we need to start planning soon."

/

When she awoke this time she didn't have the luxury of taking the time to assess her surroundings without drawing notice, the spell had forced her into wakefulness before she was ready, her head still swimming from the three stun spells she had taken earlier. As her head began to clear she looked up to see Fudge standing over her, a menacing, almost crazy look in his eyes. She tried to move but at the first sign of movement Fudge waived his wand lazily and chains sprang to life along the length of the chair. The chains wrapped around her, sliding along her body with a sickening closeness, securing her to the chair and limiting her movement to breathing, and even that was constricted.

Fear and panic gripped at her now, she needed her space, she needed her freedom. She had been dragged down by mental chains very similar to these before, but now they weren't in her head, now they were real and they were just as terrifying. She didn't know the details of how she had ended up in this room, a small square room without windows or hope, but as she looked back up and into the face of the minister she knew one thing, he was the one in control now. All her work, keeping people at a distance, mentally training herself to stay in control of her own mind, all of it was worthless now. Her fragile control that had been one of the last things that she truly had, had been taken away from her.

He moved his face closer to hers, so close in fact, that she could see the full manic look in his eyes and the gleam of his sweat as his face broke into an excited smile.

"Well, 'Rogue', or whatever it is you call yourself, you my dear, are going to be my ticket to immortality. Dumbledore has overshadowed me all throughout my career, but no more!" Rogue shivered despite herself as his words ran over her, "You are going to tell me what I want to know, one way or another, you're going to tell me who you really are and lead me to the other mutants you've been conspiring with to bring down my government!"

Rogue's eyes widened in realization, he wasn't just caught up in the moment like she had originally thought, he was actually insane. And in this room, hidden away with no witnesses he could fabricate whatever truth he wanted as long as he had some grain of actual reality to fall back on. Any information she gave him would simply be bent to his will, he had already warped her actions today into those of one attempting to gain trust in order to betray, and even if she told him the real reason she had run into Lupin, he would turn that into a scam on the part of all the X-Men to infiltrate and break down the wizarding society.

She might not be in control any more, but that didn't mean she had to make it easy for him. She wouldn't give him anything, any piece of information that he could use to hurt the X-Men.

He stiffened slightly as he saw the determination in her eyes, but instead of backing down like most people did when they met with her glare, he simple stepped back and walked over to a small table, a table that had gone unnoticed by her until this moment. Picking up a pair of gloves he slid them onto his hands, and then reached over and picked up a small glass bottle with a greenish liquid inside.

"Truth serum," he whispered, uncorking it and holding it in front of her face. "Once you take this you'll only be able to answer truthfully, but you'll also only be able to answer my questions exactly. No embellishments or explanations, I don't want anything that could, ah, how would you say, allow others to feel sympathy for you."

So that was his plan, he would ask her questions to make her condemn herself. He would ask her if she was connected to any mutant fighting team, if her actions approaching Lupin were done as a part of a mission, and then he would ask her if any part of her had ever served Voldemort. And the answer to all three would be yes, she was an X-Men, she had approached Lupin thinking he was Rahne, and the four mutants she had absorbed had served Voldemort, so that part of her at least, could say yes to the third question as well. And when he asked her about Voldemort's plans she would be able to tell him those as well, or at least whatever information her four newest tenets had gathered. Her knowledge of those would only work to further condemn her.

"I will tell you nothing," she spat, she would resist the truth serum, her mental shields would allow her to do that much.

Fudge grabbed her hair and pulled her head back, plugging her nose until she was forced to open her mouth and poured the stinging liquid down her throat. He spoke in her ear, "You may be able to resist at first, but don't for a second think that this is my only trick. One way or another, I will have my answers and I will have my immortality. Whatever it takes."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Important note: This story has been revised, the only major difference is that Tonks now is a much more important character than before but some stuff might be a little confusing in this newest chapter if you're not new to the story.**

Rogue didn't know how long it had been, Fudge had come and gone several times but she had remained firmly rooted to the chair. In this room, or for the person connected to the chair at least, there seemed to be some sort of spell that kept the victim from getting hungry or thirsty, or from having to perform certain other natural functions for that matter. After giving her the truth serum he had asked her all the questions she had predicted but she had gritted her teeth and kept quite. The answers had tried to force their way through her mouth but she had refused. It actually hadn't been that hard at first, and if she hadn't just fought another major mental battle she probably would have brushed off the first part of Fudge's attack, but as it currently stood, fighting the magic had been more draining than it should have been.

When the first truth serum had failed he had moved onto a stronger one, one that not only tried to force her to speak with a greater urgency than the last, but one that also sent shooting pains through her mind and down her body each time she resisted. The pain got more intense with each refusal to speak, and Rogue could almost see the insanity in Fudge's mind grow along with the pain. After that he had moved onto a magical probe that he placed on her skin at the base of her neck. This one was by far the most intense. It had actually buried itself into her skin, attaching itself to the neural pathways and attempted to manipulate her brain more directly. This one also was incredibly painful but Rogue had been fighting battles for a long time, she could handle pain better than your average person.

It was more shear exhaustion that was wearing her down, the magic of the room didn't seem to do anything about sleep depravation and Rogue desperately needed to sleep and let her mind rest. Fudge wasn't in the room at the moment, but every time she started to nod off the chains around her sent shockwaves through her body and kept her awake.

/

"What about the x-men?" Tonks had to ask it. It was the name they were all thinking but that no one was willing to actually suggest.

"They're mutants…" Moody voiced, the distrust clear in his tone, "we know nothing about them"

"But they can fight, they're trained, and as of now they're the only mutant group we're aware of that don't seem to want to hurt people" Harry was arguing passionately. He wasn't about to let something happen to Rogue without knowing he did everything possible to help her.

"We can't involve them" Moody argued back, "we'll find another way"

"No," Dumbledore stood up from his chair drawing all eyes to him. "I said if there was someone who was both magical and a mutant we would involve mutants in our battle. Rogue may not have gained her magical powers through the normal means but she is a part of both worlds, and she was part of the mutant world long before she was part of ours. If these people can help we need them now"

Tonks grinned at Dumbledore, he met her smile with a soft twinkle of his own. Looking to the side Tonks felt her grin falter slightly when she realized that Harry was wearing an identical look, but she forced herself to focus on saving Rogue and ignored the strange feeling that Harry's obvious crush on Rogue always seemed to make her feel.

"Three of us will go," Dumbledore decided, "I'll take two of you with me to contact the x-men incase they are less friendly than our research into them has suggested"

"I'm going" Lupin had been pacing back and forth for the last several hours, growling at anyone who came too close or tried to get him to calm down.

No one argued with him, partly because everyone there felt he had a good reason to be involved with approaching the x-men and partly because they were all a little to scared to argue.

"Me too" both Harry and Tonks spoke at the same time, both turning to look at each other with defiance.

"I've been in plenty of dangerous situations before" Harry argued, "You people always say it's too dangerous but I'm the one who always ends up having to sort things out"

"I'm an auror," Tonks was not about to let him win this one, "and plus I'm the one with a mental connection to Rogue, that might be important for finding her and getting her out safely"

"She's my friend!" Harry argued, though everyone in the room could tell he wanted it to be something more.

"Exactly!" Tonks shot back, "you're too emotionally involved, everyone can tell how you feel about her and now is not the time to let a crush muddle your judgment and mess things up!" Tonks realized she had gone to far almost as soon as she spoke, she doubted if Harry would forgive her for that last remark for along time.

The other adults were nodding at Tonks words, however, "Sorry Harry, but she has a point," Dumbledore spoke. "We don't know enough about these people to go into the situation emotionally charged"

"What about him then?" Harry fumed, looking at Lupin who was still stalking around the room.

"He can handle himself," Dumbledore spoke softly, "He knows when to control himself if he needs to, and his relationship to Rogue as her wolf-father is an important one to show to these people. They need to understand that we didn't kidnap her or abandon her, they need to see that we look after our own"

Turning to look at Tonks Dumbledore continued in a softer voice, "You're mental link to Rogue may be important so you would be coming regardless of who the third person was, but I need to know, are you too emotionally invested in this as well?"

Tonks felt her face flush slightly, thankful that most of the people were still looking at Harry as he glowered and fumed to himself. She cared about Rogue, sure, and when she had though Rogue was going to die back at Hogsmead she had felt some pretty intense emotions, but that was natural for anyone to feel after developing a strong mental connection with someone. She couldn't help but wonder, however, if Dumbledore was asking something else, if his question went deeper than simple fondness for another person.

Tonks was about to answer that she was fine but when she met Dumbledore's eyes something about the way he was looking at her made her pause. There was trust in his eyes, he was asking her a question and trusting her to make the right decision. Forcing herself to stop and think, Tonks realized that she needed to be sure she would be in control during this mission. She absolutely could not allow herself to be the one to mess things up. She had to consider if her emotional attachment to Rogue would really be a problem.

Taking a breath Tonks closed her eyes and forced herself to really look at her emotions regarding Rogue. She had been avoiding them for a while, but now she had to admit that she did care deeply for the other woman. But was it going to be a problem for the mission? No, she decided. She would do whatever was needed to get Rogue back safely, and part of that meant not letting her emotions cloud her mind or judgment so she couldn't do her job. She was the best one to help with this, her auror training and occlumency work with Rogue proved that.

"It won't be a problem" She answered Dumbledore, meeting his gaze with a firm look of determination. He searched her eyes and then nodded once, finding what he had been looking for.

"Then let's go"

/

Logan met the strangers at the gate. He had been in a terrible mood since Rogue's disappearance and with each failed attempt at locating her he seemed to sink further and further into his depression. So he had been waiting to burst for along time when the strangers appeared on the security system and he had rushed out to deal with it before anyone else had started to react. As he got closer, however, his sense of urgency increased, he could smell her on them, a sent no more than a few hours old.

Dumbledore felt Lupin and Tonks tense next to him as a large man came hurtling towards them, anger clear on his face. Metal claws sprang from the man's hands as he finally slowed and came to a stop a few short feet away.

None of them were expecting what happened next, however, as Logan bared his teeth and growled out, "Where is she? I can smell her on you"

"She?" Dumbledore tried to ask amicably.

"Rogue! Where is she? If you've hurt her I'll kill you," a threat they all believed he fully intended to carry out.

"He knows Rogue," Tonks breathed, feeling slightly relieved at this revelation. At the moment she was still wary of the clawed man, but knowing that he knew Rogue, and seemed to care about her, made her think that convincing these people to help might not be so hard after all.

"I think we need to talk" Dumbledore spoke softly, meeting Logan's eyes, "and I promise you, we want to help Rogue just as much as you do"

Logan sniffed the air carefully. He didn't trust these people but so far they seemed like they weren't going to be a threat. He couldn't smell any weapons on them, and they knew Rogue. At this point any link to Rogue was enough to make him suppress his battle instinct if it meant getting the information they had all been hoping for over the past few months.

/

It had taken several hours to sort everything out. Logan had taken them to see Professor Xavier, and he and Dumbledore seemed to come to an almost instant understanding, both recognizing a kindred spirit in the other. Dumbledore had started first, explaining how Rogue came into their lives and what had been happening over the past few months, and then Xavier filled in the gaps about who Rogue really was.

As they were speaking Logan and Lupin kept eyeing each other wearily. They could both feel the wolf in each other, different forms of it but still very similar, and they had by now realized that they both viewed Rogue as a sort of daughter. Neither of them looked entirely happy to be faced with their other world counterpart, not quite comfortable with sharing the father role just yet.

Tonks, for her part, had keep quietly to herself on the corner. A woman named Ororo had smiled at her welcomingly and Tonks had smiled back politely, but she was too caught up in Xavier's part of the story to really focus on much else. Hearing the back story explained so much, how Rogue had developed such strong mental shields even before starting occlumency training, how she had such amazing reflexes, and even the sadness that sometimes appeared in her eyes when some mention of her home or past came up. Hearing about the things Rogue had done Tonks couldn't help the swell of pride that whelmed up in her breast, she didn't think she could ever think of Rogue as a student again.

When both side were done filling in the other, that's when the planning started. Dumbledore, Lupin, and Tonks were asked to wait in a side room while Xavier gathered the other x-men and filled them in about Rogue, and then another round of introductions followed.

Dumbledore sent messages to people from their side trying to find someone to get information on Rogue's location, while Xavier and the x-men discussed different strategies for getting her out. In the end it was decided that a stealth operation was probably best and that using a combination of mutant powers and magic would be the most likely to succeed.

It took several days to get the information about where Rogue was being held, but in that time the two worlds were melding. The wizards learned about the mutant world and started to see them with far more clarity than before, and the mutants learned about the hidden world of magic and the terrible war that was raging in secret around them. Both sides knew what it meant to have to hide in place view, and both sides were willing to work together if in meant saving Rogue, and possibly doing more good if possible.

/

Fudge was growing exceedingly impatient with the girl in the chair. He was getting pressure from the council to produce some sort of proof or confession from her, or they were going to consider letting her go. He had tried to explain to them that he was almost there, that she had strong mental barriers and the few short days he had had with her were not enough to crack her mind, but they still suggested that he turn the questioning over to some other party. Fudge knew what would happen if he did that though, she would plead her case, convince them of her innocence and go free. He wouldn't allow that, he would use whatever means necessary to achieve his immortality.

And so as he arrived back at the room he stopped outside the door, took a few minutes to compose himself, and then burst into the room hitting her full on with the crucio curse before her tired mind could do more than register his presence.

/

Rogue wanted it to stop, she wanted it to stop so much that she didn't realize the fact that the only voice she could hear was her own. It was her own voice screaming louder than she had ever screamed in the past. And it didn't stop, her body just kept screaming as the pain continued to surge through her, actually increasing in strength with each second.

Fudge dropped his wand giving her a few short seconds to breath and then hit her with the curse again, this time holding it for almost a full minute before stopping the pain. When he finally let his wand drop Rogue's head was ringing with such intensity that she didn't hear him ask her a question, her lack of response quickly resulting in yet another round of torture.

Something strange was happening to her, however, the pain kept coming, and eventually she stopped screaming simply because she had forgotten how, but she seemed unable to focus on anything. She thought he might be asking her questions but she was deaf to everything but her own pain. Physical exertion had often been one way for her to focus her mind and separate herself from the other minds in her head, but she had never gone through something this physically stimulating or intense before. Even as she felt her terror rise in her with each repeated attack, her fear that she would break and hurt her friends, or that he would attack her with the spell again, she was at the same time becoming more and more aware of the silence that was settling in inside her mind.

As Fudge hit her again she felt herself black out, but instead of completely loosing consciousness she sank into her mind. She realized that Fudge hadn't ended his abuse of her body, that the pain was still coursing through her veins, but for some reason she was able to escape into her mind for a brief period. Or at least until he realized she was unconscious.

_Rogue looked around her. She was standing in blackness, maybe floating would be a more appropriate word as the blackness didn't seem to have a form, but she could feel some sort of ground under her 'feet'. Looking around she realized that she was solid, but all around her ghost-like figures were slowly backing away from her. As they did, their bodies became even more transparent and shapeless while hers took on a more solid form. All around her body, she realized, rays of blood-red light were leaking forth and sending out tendrils to the surrounding area. These were what the other forms were trying to avoid. _

'_It's the pain,' she realized. The other minds in her head were running from the pain, separating themselves from her own mind in the process. Rogue had always thought of her mind as a sort of collection of the minds of those she had absorbed. But now she realized that it was the opposite. Her mind was the central focus point, the other minds latched onto her and took their form from her. As they shrank away they began to lose their shape and form, she was becoming more and more solid because their parasite-like ghost bodies were abandoning the host, removing the wispy veil from her person. _

'_Yes it is, the pain is driving them away' Her own voice agreed with her. Startled, Rogue turned around and saw the one remaining figure, this one just as solid as herself. Rogue looked into the eyes of Marie, they looked almost identical, except Marie was lacking the white strips of hair and her eyes were a normal brown color. Both the white hair and the unnaturally green eyes had manifest themselves alone with her powers, the physical signs of the mutation. _

'_Why are we separate?' Rogue asked, she had thought briefly that as the other minds drew away she would be left as Marie, not Rogue. _

'_Because I don't really exist anymore, Rogue, I only exist because you keep me around as a memory," Marie reached out her bare hand to Rogue and Rogue understood. Kitty had suggested that Rogue was the evolution of Marie, she had ignored it but now it made sense. Humans are evolving and changing their whole lives. No one is the same person they were five years ago. Rogue might have been Marie several years ago but she had changed too much since that point to be the same person anymore. In a normal mind the old personality is just absorbed by the new one, a slow process that happens without either side realizing it. But because if the nature of Rogue's powers she had obsessed over the Marie part of her mind so much that this process had been halted. She was Rogue now, but not because she was a combination of many minds, but rather because that is who she had grown into. In a few years she would probably be a different version of Rogue, but the current Rogue would just be naturally absorbed into the newer model. Marie, on the other hand, would continue to hang around until Rogue allowed the process to be completed and fully absorbed the personality into herself. _

_Reaching out her own hand Rogue grabbed the hand of Marie and drew her closer. Smiling, Marie stepped forward and into Rogue. A slight shudder passed through her and then Rogue felt herself becoming completely solid, or at least, solid in this mental world. She didn't feel different at all, Marie was her past and so by absorbing her she wasn't adding to her present, but rather just completing her transformation into Rogue. _

_Looking around her again, Rogue noticed that she could now see clear distinctions between herself and the other personalities. Reaching out a hand she summoned one to her, briefly pausing to identify it as the electricity mutant from the previous battle, before dragging it in even as it struggled to escape from the red pain that was still radiating from her body. As it got close the personality gave up fighting to escape and instead tried to reattach itself to her mind, sending its wispy tendrils out to wrap around her outstretched arm. The tendrils couldn't seem to penetrate though; she was too solid a form now for them to seep into her body. _

_Grinning, she let the mind go, watching as it fled away again in relief. Her smile dissolved however, when she realized that the red had faded, the pain that had given her access to this deep level of her subconscious had ended and she was jerked upward and outward._

Rogue gowned as she opened her eyes, immediately wishing she hadn't as her throat was incredibly sore from screaming. Fudge was standing in front of her in full on insanity. His small beetle eyes seemed about to pop from their sockets and the sweat dripping down his face made it appear as if he was melting from some inner evil.

"ANSWER ME!" He roared, raising his wand again and starting the form the words for the spell, but before he could complete it something blue and furry popped into existence behind him causing him to spin around hurriedly.

Fudge didn't have time to register who was pointing a wand at him before the stunning spell hit him square in the chest and he slumped to the floor. As he fell the chains binding Rogue slipped off, causing her abused body to lose its support and she felt herself begin to slip to the floor. Tonks moved first, catching Rogue and cradling her before her body could hit the hard stones. Rogue looked into the concerned and caring eyes of the woman above her and for once didn't feel scared of the physical touch. She felt safe and secure in this woman's arms, she felt protected from all harm, including herself.

Turning her head slightly Rogue looked into the face of her brother, the expression on his face more than enough to tell her how terrible she must look, but at the moment she was too sore to speak, or even do more than simply nod to acknowledge their presence. Looking back at Tonks Rogue allowed herself to feel the warmth of the other woman's body seeping into her own, and a moment later she was asleep.

Rogue would remain asleep as Kurt teleported them all back outside the ministry, as Tonks revealed that Fudge had gone as far as the crucio curse, and as newspapers across the Wizarding world printed articles about the arrest of Fudge and his current incrassation in a mental hospital.

If Fudge had regulated his methods to the truth potions and probes he would have been fine. It would have been assumed than mutants had helped Rogue escape to return to Voldemort even as she was remaining hidden at Hogwarts. Because of his use of the curse, however, Dumbledore and a group of aurors had arrested him and Rogue's part in the story had been thankfully pushed to the side as the papers were told to focus on the minister.

/

Rogue was not looking forward to waking up. To be fair she was already awake but she was enjoying the relative silence inside her mind. She could still feel the other personalities, they had once again crowded around her now that the pain was gone, but her central person, Rogue, was now too solid for them to infiltrate. She could hear their voices, feel their presence, and access their memories, but it was on her terms now. Until she reached out to a specific one they would remain only a slight buzz in the back of her mind.

Rogue had thought she was being rather sly, she was sure that no one else knew she was awake yet, so when someone tapped her arm and spoke to her she was completely surprised.

"Common Rogue, up and at em, early bird gets the worm and all that" Rogue smiled and opened her eyes to see Tonks looking down at her.

"I guess I should have known I couldn't fool you," she responded, feeling completely relaxed in the older woman's presence. The new inner peace she felt, along with the strange connection to Tonks she could no longer deny was making it impossible to pretend to be indifferent anymore. "You're probably so attuned to my mind by now you could feel it if I thought about you the wrong way"

Tonks raised an eyebrow at Rogue's comment, her smile widening in amusement, "I mean," Rogue stuttered, her face flushing slightly, "you know, if I mentally insult you or something…"

Rogue was saved from making things any worse as an angry roar interrupted her stammering. A second later Tonks had been shoved none to graciously aside and Logan was towering over her, displeasure radiating from his every pore.

"What the hell were you thinking! Running off without telling me where you were going, do you have any idea what we've been going through these past few months? What I've been going through? I practically killed the professor when he didn't bring you home, how could you possibly think that leaving us in the dark would be a good idea?" Logan's words were full of anger, but Rogue knew what he meant. Sitting up in bed she carefully wrapped her arms around the angry mans body, burying her face into his shoulder and holding on tightly.

"I missed you too," she whispered, "and I'm sorry"

Logan was surprised by her hug. She was normally a little more physically affectionate with him because his powers meant that she was far more unlikely to seriously hurt him if an accident happened, but a hug was far beyond where she would normally draw the line. He took a breath and relaxed his body, letting his anger and hurt melt away. Enfolding her in his arms he held her tightly, not willing to miss this opportunity in case it never came again. He didn't say anything else, nothing else was really necessary, and after a few moments they separated and he nodded his head at her before turning and walking out of the room. The other people in the room were careful to avoid his eyes, sure that if anyone dared to comment on the tender side of him they would find themselves facing the extreme opposite version of Wolverine.

Rogue finally had the opportunity to look around. She was in a secluded part of the hospital wing, a separate room off the main floor. She was pretty sure that Tonks had been the only one there when she woke up, but now the room was filled with Dumbledore, Xavier, Lupin, Kurt, Kitty, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Looking from Dumbledore to Xavier, Rogue felt her face flush for the second time since waking. She could tell Xavier probably wanted to give her a lecture about not contacting them, while Dumbledore would probably support Xavier. They would tell her they were disappointed in her for thinking that running off was the best option, and it would probably result in her feeling worse than she already did and promising never to do it again. For now though, they simply smiled at her and asked how she was feeling. Dumbledore and Lupin filled her in on what was going on in the Wizarding world involving Fudge, and then they too left the room.

Tonks knew she should leave as well and allow Rogue to spend time with her friends but, well to tell the truth, she just didn't want to. She wanted everyone else to leave instead so that she could find out how Rogue was actually doing, find out what sort of emotional damage that monster had done to her. But for now she had to know her place. Nodding casually in Rogue's direction she made her way to the door and followed the professors and Lupin out into the hallway.

Rogue felt slightly hurt by the causal way Tonks left, but then Kitty and Kurt stalked over to her and she realized she was in no position to judge anyone for leaving.

/

Rogue was exhausted again and after the mental and physical trauma she had been through she didn't think anyone could really blame her. She had spent the past three hours getting threatened about not leaving again, lectured about how guilty she should feel, showered with how happy people were that she was alright, and pelted by about a dozen other conflicting emotions.

Finally unable to hold it in any longer, Rogue allowed herself to yawn loudly, hoping that the other would get the point. Most of them did and after another round of tearful exclamations about how happy they were she was all right, Ron, Hermione, Kitty, and Kurt filled out. Harry was dragging his feet and just after Kurt left the room, Harry seemed to change his mind and turned back to face Rogue.

Harry had been waiting for the others to leave for the past several hours. He had kept trying to shoot meaningful looks at Ron and Hermione, but they had been obstinately ignoring him. Rogue was their friend too and they wanted to make sure she was all right.

Now that everyone was leaving however he felt nervous, almost allowing that to dissuade him from his previous plan. He had just reached the door when he changed his mind, turning back to look at the beautiful, if slightly pale woman on the bed.

Walking back over to her he stumbled over words, finally settling on, "I wanted to go with them, you know" he suddenly found it very important that she know his absence from her rescue hadn't been through any fault of his own.

Rogue nodded and offered him a small smile, "Thanks," she replied. Rogue didn't really know what else to say, the way Harry was looking at her was making her feel strange but she was too tired right now to really focus on it.

Harry grinned in answer to her smile, it still amazed him just how beautiful she looked when she allowed herself to relax enough to show some emotions. He was about to say more when Rogue yawned again and Madam Pomfrey bustled in. She wasted no time at all in shooing him out, giving him just enough time to turn around and see the apologetic glance Rogue shot his way.

Rogue knew Harry wanted to say more and if she hadn't been so tired she would have liked to hear it. She wanted to try and understand what she felt when he looked at her like that, and now that her mind was more her own she wondered if she would be free to actually feel something without being afraid of its origin. But as it stood, she was glad when Madam Pomfrey demanded she get some rest, and within the next few minutes she was fast asleep.

/

Tonks watched as Harry left the hospital wing, he had been rushed out by Madam Pomfrey, but for some reason he had a large grin on his face and he looked very pleased with himself. She had been waiting in one of the offices with some of the other adults, but when the other students and x-men had come out and Harry had remained behind, she had made some excuse to leave and wandered out to check on things. Tonks glared at his back slightly as he walked away, he had been to caught up in feeling happy about whatever to notice her presence outside the door. Didn't he realize that Rogue was in a complex emotional state right now? He should back off and let her get better, he would have plenty of time for romance later. She tried to ignore the nagging little thought that asked if she would really be ok with his pursuing Rogue after she had had some time to heal. Of course she would, she decided, she wanted to protect Rogue, not smother her. She felt like that argument was a little hollow, but she repeated it to herself and forced herself to stop glaring at the retreating boys back.

After a few minutes, just when she was deciding that she really should find something else to do, Tonks felt Rogue's mental scream hit her like a shockwave. No actual sound had passed Rogue's lips but as Rogue had mentioned before, the two of them were now so in tune with each other that it would be almost impossible for Tonks to miss the mental distress at this short a distance.

In the three seconds it took for Tonks to reach the side of Rogue's bed she felt another agonizing scream from Rogue. Rogue was in the throws of an intense nightmare; her body was tossing and turning in the bed while silent scream after scream echoed through her mind.

"Rogue!" Tonks yelled, wrapping her arms around the other woman and holding her tightly.

Rogue awoke with a start as the horror of Fudge was replaced by the warmth she was quickly coming to associate specifically with Tonks. She felt strong and comforting arms wrap around her and didn't even try to fight back. Instead she allowed Tonks to enclose her in a tight hug and let herself go. She grabbed onto Tonks with an iron grip as sobs shook through her body almost as painfully as the screams, but this time Tonks was there to hold her and sooth her. When she finally calmed down she realized that she had pulled Tonks onto the bed with her and was now lying encircled on the other woman's arms, her head resting on Tonks shoulder.

As Tonks held Rogue as the girl cried she finally had to admit that she had been lying to herself about the true depth of her feelings for Rogue. But seeing Rogue like this, seeing her with absolutely no emotional barriers there was no longer any denying the form these emotions had taken. She would have to deal with them however, she would be there for Rogue in whatever she needed, even if in meant listening to Rogue fall for someone else, some spiky haired, green-eyed someone else.

Rogue lay there unmoving for a long time, simply enjoying the feeling of another person holding her so tightly. Finally she pulled herself together enough to say, "this is dangerous, you're not wearing any gloves"

"And I'm fine" Tonks spoke softly back. They lay in silence for a few more minutes before Rogue spoke again.

"The first time we met you matched your eyes to mine," Shifting her body slightly so that she was now looking up at Tonks, Rogue continued, "ever since then I've been wondering what you really look like, I don't think I've ever seen you in your real form"

"How would you know?" Tons asked, surprised, though slightly pleased that Rogue would care, "how can you tell I never use aspects of my real face?"

Rogue shrugged, "It just doesn't ever seem to quite fit. You're eyes are the most real, but even those are never your real color right?"

It had been years since anyone other than herself in a mirror had seen Tonks's real face. She didn't think anyone else noticed anymore. She didn't really remember why she had started hiding, she supposed it had something to do with not wanting to be connected to the line of dark witches and wizards her family was known for, but whatever it was had turned into a long time practice. Looking at Rogue however, she realized that she didn't care if Rogue saw her real face, she actually found that she wanted to show it to Rogue.

She shifted on the bed, now the two of them were lying on their sides facing each other. No longer touching, but looking intently into each other's eyes.

"Ok" she whispered. It wasn't a response to Rogue's last question, but Rogue knew what it meant.

Rogue watched as the face in front of her transformed, unable to suppress a gasp when the features settled and the real Tonks looked back at her. Tonks had shoulder length, straight black hair, hair so dark that it almost had a faint purplish scene. Her eyes were a deep royal purple, an eye color Rogue had never seen before, and her face, well her face was beautiful.

Suddenly Rogue realized what it was she felt when Harry looked at her, and it wasn't what she expected. When Harry looked at her she wasn't feeling love or fondness, she was feeling uncomfortable and wishing he would stop. She knew this now because what she was feeling looking at Tonks's real face, that was an emotion that went beyond anything she had ever felt before.

Tonks felt fear turn in her stomach when she heard Rogue gasp, more than anything she wanted Rogue to think she was beautiful, but she knew the gasp probably meant Rogue was appalled by her looks. The fear must have shown on her face however because no sooner had it risen in her mind than Rogue was smiling at her, telling her she was beautiful in that adorable, soft American southern lilt of hers.

Without asking permission, Rogue moved closer to her again, nestling into her side. Tonks wrapped her arms around the younger woman again protectively as Rogue once again drifted back to sleep. Tonks lay awake for a few more minutes focusing on the steady breathing of Rogue, and then she too passed into the dream realm, neither of them stirring when a shadowed figure crept into the room and stood there watching them sleep for several minutes before exiting just as quietly as before.

/

"So this other woman, the auror Tonks is her weakness?" the dark lord intoned to the servant kneeling at his feet.

"Yes my lord," the young male voice replied, "get the auror and the mutant will do whatever you desire. All her power will be yours"

The only answer was a cold, delighted laugh.


End file.
